Amazon employees claim they are fired because of an algorithm

The e-commerce giant uses Artificial Intelligence to determine if workers are doing their jobs well or badly and send them an email to inform them that they were fired

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Amazon is one of the most profitable companies globally, each year they grow exponentially in the world of online retail, but at the same time the famous company founded by Jeff Bezos faces all kinds of scandals that have affected its reputation , in particular by allegations of mistreatment with employees .

This situation puts the firm in the eye of the hurricane again, a few hours ago, a group of collaborators made their displeasure public, already stating that they were fired after receiving an automated email. According to the protesters, the algorithms decided they weren’t doing their job correctly and removed them.

According to a Bloomberg report, Stephen Normandin , affected, indicated that there is a “fear that automation will end our jobs, since it usually refers to the use of intelligent machines and systems with a performance superior to that of people, but not the literal fear of being fired by a machine ”.

According to the testimony, there is widespread fear in a sector of the Amazon’s workforce for being laid off, especially because systems that monitor employee performance interpret workforce performance in a way other than human .

St ephen Normandin, who was a deliveryman, pointed out that Amazon punished him for situations beyond his control, exemplifying that he could not deliver a package because the apartment complex was closed. But for Amazon systems, this type of eventuality does not matter, so by not delivering a package it represents a fault and for the system criteria the culprit is the dealer .

The way in which Amazon is structured and by the number of requests for orders makes it one of the companies that has opted for the automation of various processes, in which it makes use of intelligent robots that circulate through their warehouses, moving packages and placing orders with speed and precision.

But the use of artificial intelligence is not exclusive to the areas of operation to speed up delivery of packages, the use of these systems is also being implemented in the areas of human resources , with the use of programs to manage workers both in distribution centers and in distributions, as well as in offices.

The technological measure that is being implemented has to do with the vision of the brand’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, who has repeatedly said that machines can make decisions quickly and accurately than people, this strategy has an impact on reducing costs in human resources.

According to Bloomberg, after it occurred to know what happened to those who were fired, Amazon assured that they are isolated events and does not represent what happens on a daily basis in the company, so rejected the accusations of the people deposed from their positions .

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