New poll claims warehouse staff at Amazon UK are depressed and contemplate suicide

[KK]

Some Amazon warehouse staff 'have considered suicide since joining the company'

In the poll of 100 workers, more than half said they had suffered depression and eight of those surveyed said they had thought about killing themselves

The findings have been revealed by Organise, which pushes for union ­representation for employees.

Lead campaigner Usman Mohammed said: “Every week we see dozens of horrific stories from inside Amazon’s UK warehouses.

“The sheer volume of Amazon workers suffering from depression and anxiety since starting a job at one of their five main warehouses is frightening.”

The staff surveyed anonymously also complained of being penalised for illness. One said: “From their point of view we don’t have the right to be ill.”

Another said: “I had an epilepsy episode at work and was taken to hospital. The next day someone rang me and asked why I was not in work.”

Nearly three quarters also claimed they were so scared of missing ­productivity targets they did not drink water so they would not need the toilet.

Organise’s findings follow a Sunday Mirror probe into working ­practices at the US firm’s UK ­warehouses, where staff are paid £8.20 an hour to pack and despatch orders.

Pickers at its site in Tilbury, Essex, were given targets of processing at least 300 items per hour.

James Bloodworth, who worked ten-hour shifts at a warehouse in Rugeley, Staffordshire, claimed staff were peeing in bottles because they were scared of getting in trouble for taking toilet breaks.

The Rugeley warehouse measures 700,000 sq ft and some of the 1,200 workers face a ten minute, quarter-of-a-mile walk to two toilets on the ground floor of the four-storey building.

He said: 'For those of us who worked on the top floor, the closest toilets were down four flights of stairs.'

Mr Bloodworth, who worked as a picker selecting goods for dispatch, walked ten miles a day in the job to research for a book on low-wage Britain.

He revealed workers were continually monitored for time wasting by supervisors and claimed the strictness was what caused the 'toilet bottle' system.

Amazon said it provided a safe, ­positive workplace. It said: “We haven’t been provided with confirmation the people who completed the survey worked at Amazon. We don’t recognize these ­allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities in our buildings.”

Amazon was named by LinkedIn as the seventh most sought-after UK workplace, and lets customers tour sites to see what happens after they click “buy”.

Mirror Comments,

I worked at the Manchester amazon warehouse for 2 years and was great for my first job, Never had a problem and pay was above what other warehouse jobs were paying.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/a ... d-12360795

Not the first time this has come up; accusations of similar poor working conditions were made on Channel 4’s Dispatches.

[Errkal]

Wouldn't the same be said for many warehouse types jobs?

It's like people that bitch about the pushy atmosphere in a call center or sales job when that's what the job.

Sure there may be some specific issues but Amazon will get more gooseberry fool because they are really bastard big.

There are people that bitch and moan about the call centres at work for being pushed to sell or that they have to answer the phones lots and it makes it "hell to work like that" but that's the job that's what a call centre or sales centre is.

[Karl]

Wouldn't the same be said for many warehouse types jobs?

It might be that workers are having to piss in a bottle in every warehouse type job, but that doesn't make it right.

[Errkal]

Wouldn't the same be said for many warehouse types jobs?

It might be that workers are having to piss in a bottle in every warehouse type job, but that doesn't make it right.

True and if that is happening then it is wrong.
I always find these sort of things hard to believe especially when you get polar reports of people who love working there.

Really the solution is that there is government department that investigates this sort of thing to then take action but right now I don't know if believe the reports as people over this sort of gooseberry fool especially when they are narky anyway and get given a way to shout.

[PuppetBoy]

My girlfriend used to work for their Swansea warehouse and said it was without a doubt the worst job she's ever had. The only "positive" she could come up with is that the supervisors were at least up front from the start about how incredibly strict they would be.

[Gemini73]

I'll be honest, without any concrete evidence and only the word of a handful of employees amongst hundreds of staff it's difficult to know what to believe. If there is any truth to the accusations /claims then of course a full investigation should be put into action.

[Knoyleo]

It's like people that bitch about the pushy atmosphere in a call center or sales job when that's what the job.

No job should make people want to kill themselves, jfc.

[Vermilion]

I hardly use amazon these days, especially not since i placed a bunch of pre-orders with them, paid for 'first class postage' and found that hardly any of the items actually showed up (had to ring again and again because nothing was getting through).

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest that the company makes their workers just as miserable as their customers.

[Karl]

I'll be honest, without any concrete evidence and only the word of a handful of employees amongst hundreds of staff it's difficult to know what to believe. If there is any truth to the accusations /claims then of course a full investigation should be put into action.

I'm not trying to be snarky here, but surely it shouldn't be necessary to have concrete evidence to begin an investigation? You investigate to gather evidence.

[Errkal]

It's like people that bitch about the pushy atmosphere in a call center or sales job when that's what the job.

No job should make people want to kill themselves, jfc.

I agree, however it doesn't mean they are worse than someone else or doing something outright wrong. I imagine most roles will cause that feeling of conditions apsuck or the job isn't right for you or whatever.

It's like people at my place they get mega down because of the volume of calls being too much for them however that's what the role is and for many it is fine.

It may not be Amazon's doing as such causing but the nature of the work not being right for those interviewed and it could also be those people over egging just because.

It needs properly investigating for sure but to gooseberry fool on Amazon without actually proof is wrong.

[Mafro]

It's like people that bitch about the pushy atmosphere in a call center or sales job when that's what the job.

No job should make people want to kill themselves, jfc.

I agree, however it doesn't mean they are worse than someone else or doing something outright wrong. I imagine most roles will cause that feeling of conditions apsuck or the job isn't right for you or whatever.

It's like people at my place they get mega down because of the volume of calls being too much for them however that's what the role is and for many it is fine.

It may not be Amazon's doing as such causing but the nature of the work not being right for those interviewed and it could also be those people over egging just because.

It needs properly investigating for sure but to gooseberry fool on Amazon without actually proof is wrong.

I used to have an Amazon Warehouse just up the road and obviously a lot of the workers come from this town. Everyone I know that worked there absolutely hated it and said the conditions were pretty terrible, don't know a single person that loved working there and some people were quitting after barely a week there. Bullying, racism, working 10 hours or more with little or no breaks, being disciplined for taking too long in the toilet (I'm talking mere minutes here), extremely strict daily targets for packing that bordered on unreachable.

The warehouse closed and moved to a larger one about 10 miles away where it was pretty much the same conditions and some workers resorted to sleeping in tents nearby because the pay was so gooseberry fool and it was too expensive to travel there every day.

Comparing this to something like a call centre job is absolutely laughable.

[Errkal]

It's like people that bitch about the pushy atmosphere in a call center or sales job when that's what the job.

No job should make people want to kill themselves, jfc.

I agree, however it doesn't mean they are worse than someone else or doing something outright wrong. I imagine most roles will cause that feeling of conditions apsuck or the job isn't right for you or whatever.

It's like people at my place they get mega down because of the volume of calls being too much for them however that's what the role is and for many it is fine.

It may not be Amazon's doing as such causing but the nature of the work not being right for those interviewed and it could also be those people over egging just because.

It needs properly investigating for sure but to gooseberry fool on Amazon without actually proof is wrong.

I used to have an Amazon Warehouse just up the road and obviously a lot of the workers come from this town. Everyone I know that worked there absolutely hated it and said the conditions were pretty terrible, don't know a single person that loved working there and some people were quitting after barely a week there. Bullying, racism, working 10 hours or more with little or no breaks, being disciplined for taking too long in the toilet (I'm talking mere minutes here), extremely strict daily targets for packing that bordered on unreachable.

The warehouse closed and moved to a larger one about 10 miles away where it was pretty much the same conditions and some workers resorted to sleeping in tents nearby because the pay was so gooseberry fool and it was too expensive to travel there every day.

Comparing this to something like a call centre job is absolutely laughable.

See that I believe more, and if that's the case it is wrong in all kinds of ways and laws should prevent this sort of thing and they need investigation and taking to task for it.

I wasn't comparing the jobs as such but that way people bitch about certain job types despite it being blatantly apparently what the job is before you start it.

[Gemini73]

I'll be honest, without any concrete evidence and only the word of a handful of employees amongst hundreds of staff it's difficult to know what to believe. If there is any truth to the accusations /claims then of course a full investigation should be put into action.

I'm not trying to be snarky here, but surely it shouldn't be necessary to have concrete evidence to begin an investigation? You investigate to gather evidence.

That's a good point and I'm an idiot for not considering that. Sorry, not having the greatest of days so I'm not thinking straight.

[Hyperion]

that way people bitch about certain job types despite it being blatantly apparently what the job is before you start it.

Why can't people complain about their jobs?

[Errkal]

that way people bitch about certain job types despite it being blatantly apparently what the job is before you start it.

Why can't people complain about their jobs?

They can, but when they thing they complain about is a fundamental part of the role that can't be avoided like in the case of a sales team having sales targeted it is daft.

[Diabolito]

I done a stint in one of their warehouses once and it was so bad. Killer shifts with mad targets to meet, awful management and banana splits for supervisors, crap breaks, being treated as if your a criminal with constant searches and drug tests.

I work in another warehouse these days for another online retailer and it's so much better it's ridiculous. If this place was run like that warehouse I'd have multiple disciplinaries and reasons to be fired on a weekly basis

[Lotus]

One of the reasons I don't use Amazon. They treat their warehouse workers and delivery drivers like gooseberry fool.

[<]:^D]

just bought a fire hd 10

[Floex]

Christ, Errkal is savage Please don’t become a boss

[Green Gecko]

I do feel it's fair to point out Errkal you purchase those services like Prime and benefit from them and so somewhat inclined to believe they are A OK, I have the same attitude towards excessive plastic in packaging. I think Amazon are one of a few notable companies that are hugely successful largely due to somewhat painfully competitive practices like these and increasingly it's the software or ecommerce sector doing that like uber and that erks me because there's something fundamentally poetic about highly systemic and abstracted business technologies resulting in poor working conditions because these aren't people they're just system components. If the money and tax efficiencies are so profitable just why is it necessary to run ground staff so brutally.