Lauren Rosenblatt | (TNS) The Seattle Times
More than two years after launching an audit to study racial equity in its warehouses, Amazon quietly released the results last month, revealing workers’ concerns over “inequities,” despite programs the company already has in place.
The report, led by former attorney general Loretta Lynch, found Amazon’s warehouse workers felt there were inequities in how the company treats its employees — particularly around who gets promoted and who gets disciplined.
When they raised concerns, workers said their complaints “were not taken seriously.” When they faced discipline, they said the process was unfair and that managers failed to give them appropriate warnings in advance.
The law firm that conducted the audit, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP, attributed those “perceptions” of inequity to an uneven understanding of the company’s policies and decision-making process. It encouraged Amazon to do more to communicate with its staff.
“Amazon is deeply committed to [diversity, equity and inclusion] and providing equitable opportunities to its U.S. hourly associates,” the firm wrote in its final report, released on Aug. 30, the Friday before the Labor Day holiday weekend.
“The company’s multitude of programs and initiatives available to associates … provides ample evidence of that,” the firm continued. “Nevertheless, through this audit, we identified areas where there were perceptions of inequity or opportunities for additional enhancements to mitigate potential future risks.”
Put simply, “Amazon clearly has work to do,” said New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, who filed shareholder resolutions requesting such an audit, on behalf of the New York State Common Retirement Fund.
“Our pension fund is going to keep an eye on Amazon to ensure it implements the audit’s recommendations and tackles these issues head-on, company wide,” he said.
Amazon launched the audit in 2022, after DiNapoli’s shareholder proposal. The resolutions never received enough votes to pass, but Amazon was still under pressure to examine any uneven effects of its policies, programs and practices on hourly employees.
The proposal requested such an audit “because of the pattern and magnitude of controversies repeatedly facing Amazon.”
The audit focused on Amazon’s 750,000 warehouse workers, but the company has faced numerous allegations of racial and gender discrimination among its white-collar ranks, as well, particularly when it comes to hiring and promotions.
In a blog post announcing the results of the audit, Amazon said it was “just one part of the significant short- and long-term investments we’ve made to foster a more inclusive and welcoming workplace.”
The report did not suggest “structural changes” but made recommendations “centered on something very familiar to Amazon — ongoing iterative improvement,” the post read. “We will continue to approach each opportunity to grow and advance our inclusion efforts with intentionality and consistency.”
Perceived inequities
To conduct the audit, the firm interviewed workers and Amazon leaders, sent a survey to the warehouse workforce and reviewed the company’s training and policy documents.
It found some positives — including employee resource groups focused on different populations, funding for further education and retirement benefits — and some room for improvement, particularly when it came to promotions, responding to complaints and discipline and termination.
Those are “generally areas in which all companies can improve,” the law firm said in its report.
Amazon workers saw inequities in how the company selected workers for cross-training, learning a new job skill that allowed them to rotate positions in the warehouse, and converting from temporary, seasonal roles to permanent jobs, they told the law firm.
The report concluded that Amazon made those decisions based on business conditions or health-related risk factors, including an effort to rotate workers through roles to avoid repetitive motion injuries. But workers often didn’t know that.
“Not infrequently, associates expressed a desire to know more about Amazon’s current policies, practices or programs,” Lynch wrote in a letter in the report. “We know Amazon has already taken steps to address some of these communication opportunities and we encourage Amazon to continue thinking creatively …”
In the two years since the audit began, Amazon has introduced new technology to automate the schedule for cross-training workers, which the law firm predicted would help employees feel the decisions were more equitable.
It also recently created a new process to identify workers who are eligible for promotions from Level 1 to Level 3 positions — Amazon’s uses levels to classify its workforce — by sending an anonymized list to hiring managers.
But, workers interviewed for the audit said they were not aware of the new process or, if they were, did not understand how it differed from the prior procedure.
Among Level 1 and Level 3 employees, 78% of Amazon’s workforce is racially or ethnically diverse, according to 2023 data from the company.
That percentage goes down in higher ranks — 58% of workers in Levels 4 through 7 are racially or ethnically diverse.
Amazon had already anonymized resumes when considering candidates for promotions from Level 3 to Level 4, but workers told the law firm during the audit they were frustrated about career advancement and said there were perceived racial inequities.
Feedback and discipline
Though Amazon has several channels for employees to offer feedback to the company and its leaders, workers told the law firm they did not trust that those channels were effective.
Those feedback channels included a question-of-the-day survey, a whiteboard and digital portal for free-roaming thoughts and the ability to directly email the CEO and other leaders, as well as the option to attend a “birthday roundtable” exclusive to employees whose birthday falls within that month.
Amazon says it does respond to that feedback and has made changes as a result, including to its policies around unpaid time off and its Career Choice Program, which helps workers access further education.
The law firm similarly concluded that Amazon regularly monitors employee feedback, but workers interviewed “questioned the effectiveness of providing feedback.”
In the same vein, the firm found that Amazon had “robust procedures” to govern an investigation if an employee raises a complaint, but workers interviewed said those complaints “were not taken seriously.” Workers told the firm they never learned of the outcome of their complaint or, if they did, they did not understand what to expect next.
Amazon workers also reported they felt the disciplinary process was unfair, they did not know how to appeal discipline or termination and they did not think managers followed stated guidelines before taking action.
Some said they received write-ups without ever having a discussion with their manager, despite an Amazon policy that requires a one-on-one conversation before disciplinary action is taken. Others said they did not receive notice of changes in performance policies until they received negative feedback.
The law firm “repeatedly heard dissatisfaction with performance management and discipline,” the report read. It recommended Amazon study the demographics of who filed complaints and who was being disciplined and terminated to “ensure that its policies and practices are being applied equitably.”
Sense of belonging
The law firm found that Amazon put systems in place to create a sense of belonging and inclusion for its workers.
It applauded the company’s efforts to engage with the communities where its employees live and work, and the company’s 13 employee-resource groups. It also commended Amazon’s efforts to make health and retirement benefits available, including by auto-enrolling workers in the 401(k) retirement plan after 90 days and opening health centers.
But, it found that workers didn’t fully understand how the company determined pay, which contributed to “a perception of inequity.” Amazon bumped warehouse workers’ compensation to an average of $29 per hour earlier this month, a now somewhat annual raise leading up to the busy holiday season.
Last year, Amazon centralized its global DEI team under one umbrella, called the Inclusive eXperiences and Technology, or IXT, organization.
That restructuring could help Amazon develop and monitor DEI initiatives, the law firm wrote in its audit, applauding yet another Amazon move. But, it suggested Amazon should evaluate whether IXT is “appropriately resourced” to address DEI issues specific to its warehouse workers.
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