New data shows how Walmart has adopted Amazon’s signature use of oppressive surveillance in its warehouses. More than half of workers surveyed—54 percent at Amazon and 57 percent at Walmart—reported that their production rate makes it hard for them to use the bathroom.
Today, Oxfam, the global organization fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice, published a new report on how Amazon and Walmart’s excessive use of surveillance technology in their warehouses erodes workers’ rights and jeopardizes workers’ health, safety, and well-being. Amazon has pioneered the use of invasive surveillance in its warehouses, and this new data shows Walmart is following suit by adopting similarly repressive practices to monitor workers. According to the report, these surveillance systems hold warehouse workers to inhuman and unsustainable productivity standards.
Oxfam’s report outlines how surveillance creates a constant pressure for inhuman productivity that places a “cognitive tax” on workers, resulting in dangerous health and well-being outcomes and a fear of repercussions for falling behind on production standards or taking breaks. Nearly three-quarters—74 percent—of both Amazon and Walmart workers surveyed described feeling pressure to work faster at least some of the time. Worse still, more than half of the workers surveyed reported that their production rate makes it hard for them to use the bathroom.
“Amazon and Walmart are making record profits on the backs of warehouse workers by exploiting them through oppressive surveillance practices,” said Abby Maxman, President and CEO of Oxfam America. “This research shows the links between electronic monitoring and increased rates of worker-reported injury, isolation, exhaustion, discrimination, and negative mental health outcomes – all of which disproportionately impact women and workers of color. It’s time for Amazon and Walmart to ditch their harmful surveillance policies and start prioritizing worker well-being.”
Worker surveillance also has strong negative effects on racial and gender equity in the workplace, according to survey data discussed in Oxfam’s report. Due to historical and present-day discrimination in laws, policies, and attitudes, workers of color are overrepresented in low-wage jobs subject to surveillance, and these systems of surveillance mirror historic forms of racial oppression. The workers interviewed frequently drew parallels with slavery and plantation dynamics when describing their experiences on the warehouse floor. Additionally, women—especially women of color—consistently reported experiencing more adverse effects across various metrics related to pain, safety, and health outcomes at both Amazon and Walmart facilities.
Oxfam’s analysis highlights the key ways warehouse surveillance is negatively impacting workers at Amazon and Walmart:
- 72% of Amazon workers and 67% of Walmart workers report “how fast [they] work” is measured in detail by company technology always or most of the time. The national average is 58%.
- 78% of Amazon workers and 62% of Walmart workers report that technology can “tell if [they] are actively engaged in [their] work” always or most of the time. The national average is only 47%.
- Half (52% of Amazon workers and 50% of Walmart workers) report feeling burned out from their work. At Amazon, Black women workers reported experiencing burnout in higher numbers than any other group (62%).
- More than half (54% of Amazon workers and 57% of Walmart workers) report that their production rate makes it hard for them to use the bathroom at least some of the time.
- A greater percentage of women always felt pressure to work faster than men at both companies—44% versus 38% for Amazon and 48% versus 42% for Walmart. Women of color at Amazon and Walmart report adverse impacts at even higher rates.
“The conditions there are absolutely horrific,” said one Amazon warehouse worker in Alabama. “I likened it to slavery, because they care more about quotas and meeting production rates than actually caring about us as human beings inside there. I feel more like a number.”
The report details findings from the largest collective survey of Amazon and Walmart warehouse workers focused specifically on technology and surveillance in the U.S. to date, featuring extensive qualitative data collected from worker interviews and focus groups to supplement the quantitative results.
This report is part of the ongoing movement fighting for Amazon and Walmart to treat workers with dignity. For years, worker organizations—who were instrumental in developing the research cited in Oxfam’s report—have been sounding the alarm on Amazon and Walmart’s abusive business practices that harm workers, their communities, and the economy. It also signals Oxfam’s continued engagement with the two companies over their problematic business practices. Most recently, Oxfam published a briefing note, Business at an Inhuman Scale, detailing how the two retail behemoths disproportionately drive economic inequality in the United States.
"Oxfam's important report traces the connection from Amazon and Walmart's abusive management practices to the reproduction of inequality and widespread poverty in the United States,” said Athena, a coalition focused on Amazon. “We can and must stop these wealthy corporations from lowering standards and hollowing out our local communities."
Oxfam is calling on Amazon and Walmart to take crucial steps to address the health and safety problems surveillance causes for warehouse workers:
- Cease or significantly reform their use of worker surveillance technologies that enforce unsafe standards in their warehouses.
- Ensure freedom of association and collective bargaining rights for their workers.
- Adopt new measures to reduce injury rates, such as ensuring productivity standards do not prevent workers from necessary bathroom and rest breaks.
Oxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice. We offer lifesaving support in times of crisis and advocate for economic justice, gender equality, and climate action. We demand equal rights and equal treatment so that everyone can thrive, not just survive. The future is equal. Join us at oxfamamerica.org.
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Notes to editors:
Download the full report, “At Work and Under Watch: Surveillance and suffering at Amazon and Walmart warehouses,” here.
The quantitative data cited in this report is based on two national surveys: the National Survey of Amazon Warehouse Workers, which included responses from 1,484 Amazon workers, and the National Survey of Walmart Warehouse Workers, which included responses from 444 Walmart workers. Both surveys were conducted by Beth Gutelius, Ph.D., and Sanjay Pinto, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Center for Urban Economic Development (CUED). Qualitative data was drawn primarily from in-depth interviews Tamara L. Lee, Ph.D., and Maite Tapia, Ph.D., carried out with workers at key Amazon facilities in the US.
Read more about how Amazon and Walmart drive economic inequality in the US in Oxfam’s briefing note, “Business at an Inhuman Scale,” here.