“This can’t be good for me, but I feel great!“
Sure, Amazon employees really don’t have time to take a dump in the middle of a megashift. But somehow, Amazon thinks that a meditation and wellness booth to relax in is going to help reduce the wear and tear on their employees. Per the release for their WorkingWell program:
AmaZen: Guides employees through mindfulness practices in individual interactive kiosks at buildings. During shifts employees can visit AmaZen stations and watch short videos featuring easy-to-follow wellbeing activities, including guided meditations, positive affirmations, calming scenes with sounds, and more. Employees like Katie Miller from an Amazon fulfillment center in Etna, OH, say the pilot program has been helpful. She shared, “Self-care is important, and AmaZen gives me an opportunity to take time for myself to just pause and regroup which helps me be better at work. When I take that time, I come back to work more focused, and it has a lasting effect on the rest of my day.”
The now-deleted video that Amazon showed off on Twitter depicted one of these in the middle of a rest area… smack-dab in the middle of the warehouse, open air. Needless to say, the new booths got roundly mocked on the blasted hellsite known as Twitter:
The press release states that they plan to spend $300 million on their wellness program to lower their workplace injury rate. One might imagine lowering the insane workload on their employees would be more effective. You know, rather than shove a bunch of repurposed wage cages into their warehouse break areas that no one’s going to have the time to use anyway.
Source: Gizmodo