The issue of employee engagement at Amazon
Amazon is a thriving online business that has taken over North America. The company has become a household name, with over tens of millions of customers it has outdone huge competition, such as Walmart and is now known as the most valuable retailer in the U.S. This has led to what has gone wrong at Amazon. Amazon has taken advantage of its success, and this can be shown by the way their employees are treated. Instead of praising the employees of Amazon for all their hard work put towards the business, they are being ridiculed and put in competition with one another (Alas & Vanhala, 2013). Having over tens of thousands of workers they can view employees as just a number, being easily disposable for the next person in line if they can’t keep up with the workload. Only 15 percent of employees have managed to be able to work at the company for more than five years. Amazon blinded by its huge success has forgotten about their moral responsibility to follow a business code of ethics. They have pushed and continue to drive many workers to their breaking point.
Amazon is a well-known global online retailer that has struggled since its inception with employee satisfaction and engagement. Low pay, long hours, and high turnover rates have been an ongoing dilemma for the organization. For potential hires the lack of work-life balance that Amazon is known for can be a significant deterrent. “The New York Times recently released a scathing report that highlighted the unpleasant work conditions for white-collar workers at Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer. The report noted that new hires were encouraged to work late, follow unreasonably high standards and sabotage co-workers through surreptitious criticism to management,” (Allen & Turner, 2017).
The online retail industry is highly competitive, and Amazon has done well with the creation of innovative products and customer service ideas that allow them to remain at the top of the online food chain. Unfortunately, their HR practices have also caused them to have a poor reputation among potential employees, a reputation that could cost them current and future talent which would allow their competitors a hiring advantage as new talent enter the workforce. “Today, society and business are witnessing an unprecedented change in an increasingly global marketplace, with many companies competing for talent. As organizations move forward into a boundaryless environment, the ability to attract, engage, develop and retain talent will become increasingly important,” (Allen, Turner, & Turner, 2018).
The development of a more employee-centered culture that enhances employee engagement would benefit Amazon by increasing sales and revenue, allowing them to recruit more talent, and assist with a reduction in employee turnover.
The development of a more employee-centered culture
To engage employees and create workplaces where employees feel values HR managers may develop employee surveys. These surveys give management an opportunity to learn from the employee’s perspective (DePamphilis, 2012). A well-developed survey will question employee beliefs about the organization as a whole as well as their teammates and direct supervisors. Surveys should be anonymous to encourage participation and honesty from the workforce of an organization. “Research by Gallup shows that employee engagement is one of the key elements of sales growth, which results in business and employee growth. According to Gallup, employee engagement decreases workplace accidents by almost 50 percent and product or service defects by over 40 percent. Even more astounding, turnover rates in high-pressure companies are reduced by almost 70 percent,” (Dickmann, Brewster, & Sparrow, 2016).
Amazon has recently begun testing this HR trend within parts of their organization to see if it does lead to employee engagement and a reduction in turnover. They developed a platform called Amazon Connections which is an employee feedback platform that collects data and compiles it for management review. The system, while unique to Amazon, is similar to other software developed to assist HR in gathering employee feedback. The goal of the system is to increase employee engagement and create a better workplace environment (Gampelaere, 2016). For the data to be of value management, both upper and middle must use the information gathered to help develop professional relationships with employees that help them feel valued and respected.
HR Best Practices
There are vital things HR can do to increase engagement and guide an organization through the change of becoming more employee centered. The first is to develop the new culture of the organization. This plan should be developed with upper management (Haskins, 2012). Everyone should understand how this change in culture will benefit the organization as a whole by reducing workplace injury, turnover, and increase revenue in the long-term.
Another key element to change management is effective communication with all employees about the change in culture and how this impacts them on a practical level. Middle management must understand how these changes will affect the organization and their role in it. It is essential that they get behind the changes as this is an area where a breakdown will cause failure. Management should also be held accountable for implementing change within their areas of responsibility (Lee, Batt, & Moynihan, 2018).
There are only two recommendations that are necessary for Amazon’s HR practice’s. One is that they should stop immediately what they are doing right now regarding their practices within the organization and two, they should create a technological system that only sends positive reinforcement statistics and observations; if any employees have problems with another, then they should be dealt with an HR representative (Madia, 2011).
The use of employee surveys to gather feedback
Practices at Amazon have only one fundamental goal. The goal is for workers to not care about anything other than working at Amazon and striving for Amazon’s success. While this may be great, as learned in lecture, it costs a lot more money to get rid of employees than to hire new ones who may or may not be recruited in the same way more or less. It makes no sense to get rid of employees who know what they are doing and can innovate to a more significant extent then bring in recruits every few months or years. It seems to be working for Amazon as they are a multibillion-dollar company, but it is morally and ethically wrong because their practices are inhumane. Going at the pace and goals Amazon tries to achieve, they would probably ask if you finished the last report before you’re about to die, not even considering what is happening at the moment; understanding you’re about to die (Saha & Rowley, 2015).
For the second recommendation, if only positive feedback and stats were sent to top-level managers then all the success Amazon was achieving could be known by many workers or managers, and compensations could be given out on those bases instead of being lectured for half an hour then given a promotion right after, as said in the article. Going old school and communicating the problem with an HR representative and the person you are having an issue with has been working for several years as businesses have innovated, so why change it and innovate something that is causing the company to lose a lot of competent individuals. Only when Amazon changes their ways will they become a trillion dollar company. In our terms, if Amazon continues to do what they are doing, the general population will pay more attention to it and stop buying from the giant retailer (Saran, 2014).
HR should regularly conduct surveys, initially on a quarterly basis, to see how changes are perceived and to help identify other areas for improvement. Transparency with the results can also be beneficial which would allow for areas of development to be noted and areas of opportunity to be recognized and improved upon.
Finally, HR should work with all management and employees to ensure they understand their role and how it adds value to the organization as a whole. Employees who understand this are more engaged than those who do not appreciate their contribution to the overall success of the organization. Also, employees that feel respected are less likely to experience burnout, further reducing turnover and helping create an engaged workforce (Ziskin, 2016).
For Amazon implementing these changes could prove difficult. The culture at Amazon has been so customer focused that it may be difficult to shift that focus to include employee satisfaction. In some instances, it may be beneficial to take a hard look at the managers in place and if they can help implement these changes or if perhaps someone else may be better suited for the role.
References
Alas, R., & Vanhala, S. (2013). Converging and Diverging Trends in HRM between the Nordic Countries and Estonia. Global Trends in Human Resource Management, 122-146. doi:10.1057/9781137304438_7
Allen, J. M., & Turner, A. (2017). Employee Engagement, Feedback, andInstructional Design. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 30(3), 161-163. doi:10.1002/piq.21253
Allen, J. M., Turner, A., & Turner, J. (2018). Employee Performance and Engagement for Performance Improvement. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 30(4), 225-230. doi:10.1002/piq.21272
DePamphilis, D. M. (2012). Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions. Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities, 655-692. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-385485-8.00017-7
Dickmann, M., Brewster, C., & Sparrow, P. (2016). International Human Resource Management: Contemporary HR Issues in Europe. Berlin: Taylor and Francis.
Gampelaere, C. V. (2016). The Role of Culture in Cross-Border M&A. Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions, 139-165. doi:10.1002/9781119268451.ch7
Haskins, M. E. (2012). Partnering with your leadership development provider: seven worst practices. Strategic HR Review, 11(6), 335-339. doi:10.1108/14754391211264802
Lee, J. E., Batt, R., & Moynihan, L. M. (2018). Strategic Dilemmas: How Managers Use HR Practices to Meet Multiple Goals. British Journal of Industrial Relations. doi:10.1111/bjir.12433
Madia, S. A. (2011). Best practices for using social media as a recruitment strategy. Strategic HR Review, 10(6), 19-24. doi:10.1108/14754391111172788
Saha, J. M., & Rowley, C. (2015). Best HR practices. The Changing Role of the Human Resource Profession in the Asia Pacific Region, 87-122. doi:10.1016/b978-0-85709-475-9.00004-2
Saran, S. (2014). Employee Engagement: Leveraging Strengths and Underpinning Weaknesses (Identifying the Factors Underlying Employee Engagement Levels in an Organization). Journal of Human Resource Management, 2(3), 47. doi:10.11648/j.jhrm.20140203.11
Ziskin, I. (2016). Best Practices for HR Leadership. Employment Relations Today, 42(4), 19-24. doi:10.1002/ert.21535
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