“A BBC investigation into a UK-based Amazon warehouse has found conditions that a stress expert said could cause ‘mental and physical illness,” BBC News reports. “Prof Michael Marmot was shown secret filming of night shifts involving up to 11 miles of walking – where an undercover worker was expected to collect orders every 33 seconds. It comes as the company employs 15,000 extra staff to cater for Christmas.”
“Undercover reporter Adam Littler, 23, got an agency job at Amazon’s Swansea warehouse. He took a hidden camera inside for BBC Panorama to record what happened on his shifts. He was employed as a ‘picker,’ collecting orders from 800,000 sq ft of storage,” The Beeb reports. “Prof Marmot, one of Britain’s leading experts on stress at work, said the working conditions at the warehouse are ‘all the bad stuff at once.’ He said: ‘The characteristics of this type of job, the evidence shows increased risk of mental illness and physical illness.'”
“The scanner tracked Mr Littler’s picking rate and sent his performance to managers. If it was too low, he was told he could face disciplinary action.
When Mr Littler worked night shifts his pay rose from the daily rate of £6.50 per hour to £8.25 per hour,” The Beeb reports. “After experiencing a ten-and-a-half-hour night shift, he said: ‘I managed to walk or hobble nearly 11 miles, just short of 11 miles last night. I’m absolutely shattered. My feet are the thing that are bothering me the most to be honest.'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Mac” for the heads up.]