Amazon Job Stress: Overview of Job Demands-Resources Model

1. Introduction

1.1. Company Overview

This report has been prepared for the CEO of Amazon Australia. Amazon was originally established in the United States in 1994 as an online bookstore (Amazon 2019a). Today, it is a leader in the e-commerce industry and launched its online retail service in Australia in 2017(Amazon 2019a). Amazon’s top priority is continually elevating the customer. Every operational process is created with the end customer in mind (Amazon 2019b). The company aims to support small businesses grow and is guided by passion for invention and innovation (Amazon 2019)b.

1.2. Business Problems

According to a recent ABC article (ABC 2019), Amazon employees are experiencing long shifts involving repetitive tasks and hard physical labour, high workloads with excessive performance monitoring and unrealistic KPIs, technology issues and uncertainty regarding ongoing employment. The impact on employees, include physical and mental exhaustion, not enough time to take breaks during shifts and cutting corners on safety protocols. This is having negative consequences on job stress, satisfaction, security and performance levels.

Firms Situation Symptoms Likely problem(s) Decision Statement

CEO of Amazon Australia is concerned with recent media reports on working conditions in fulfilment centres and want to understand if reports are true. - Employees don’t have time for break (eat, drink, bathroom) during shift.

• Cutting corners on safety protocols.
• Employees feel physically and mentally exhausted at the end of each shift. - Employees have a high workload, long shifts and unrealistic KPI’s involving repetitive tasks and hard physical labour.
• Organisation/ Leadership principles are inconsistent with worker wellbeing
• Technology issues with scanning equipment sending employees to wrong location. How can Amazon decrease job stress and improve the wellbeing for warehouse employees?

Decision Statement Research Objectives Research Question(s)

How can Amazon decrease job stress and improve the wellbeing for warehouse employees? Identify what job demands are influencing job stress in the warehouse.

Identify job resources that will improve job satisfaction for fulfilment centre employees at Amazon. Are the physical requirements too demanding of the employees?

Are employees aware of Amazon’s leadership principles, do they agree with them and are the Amazon principles adhered to by the supervisors?

2.0 Overview of Job Demands-Resources Model

This review will look at applying the Job Demands Resources (JD-R) model to warehouse workers and exploring how and when job stress impacts job satisfaction, security and performance. The JD-R model suggests that specific risk factors associated with job stress can be distinguished into two categories being, job demands and job resources which focuses on both negative and positive indicators of employee wellbeing (Bakker, 2013). Bakker (2013) argues the JD-R model can be applied to many occupations, regardless of the demands or resources involved, to improve employee happiness and performance.

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Job demands are the physical, psychological, social, or organisational aspects of a job that require sustained effort or skills and are consequently linked with specific physiological and emotional costs (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). While job demands are not necessarily negative (Meijman & Mulder, 1998), research indicates that certain demands cause work overload, lack of control, role ambiguity and role conflict, all of which leads to job stress (Fairbrother & Warn 2003). Without adequate recovery, this can exhaust an employee’s mental and physical resources (Meijman & Mulder, 1998).

Job resources are the physical, psychological, social, and organisational elements of a job that provide employees with support, feedback, and enable autonomy (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). They are resources that assist employees in coping with job demands. However, job resources also have use beyond fulfilling job demands Bakker (2013). Job resources can be found at various levels of a business. Career opportunities, job security, supervisor support, team culture, task skill variety and autonomy are several job resources that can assist with performance and job demands.

A vital premise in the JD-R model is that two different underlying psychological processes play a role in the development of job strain and motivation from working characteristics Bakker (2013). The first process suggests that the mental, emotional and physical demands of a role can lead to exhaustion resulting in poor worker health (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Sickness may lead to a rise in employee absence from work and have a negative import for the organisation (Bakker, Demerouti, De Boer, & Schaufeli, 2003). In the second process proposed by the JD-R model, an organisation with well-thought-out job resources can generate employee motivation leading to high work engagement, low scepticism, and excellent performance (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007).

Having adequate job resources that boost work engagement, even when job demands are high, may alleviate job stress. Leader support in the way of feedback fosters learning and increases the likelihood of an employee being successful and achieving work goals (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). JD-R theory suggests that whether it be through the satisfaction of an employee’s basic needs or the employee achieving work goals, the presence of job resources leads to engagement. A study among educational staff suggested work engagement had a positive effect at both the individual and organisational level of a business and that work engagement was positively associated with self-rated health and working ability (Bakker et al. 2007). Therefore, employees who are engaged, in good health, and have leadership support are more likely to be equipped in coping with the demands that cause job stress.

Building on the JD-R framework, in order to increase job satisfaction, warehouse employees should be made aware of the organisation’s missions and leadership principles during the recruitment process. This is supported by (Autry et al. 2003), which concluded that employees who have realistic expectations about their employer and manager traits are more likely to be satisfied with their employment. It would give them an initial information resource regarding the culture of the organisation and its leaders. Armed this information before employment, workers may be better equipped to handle the demands of the role and the instructions of supervisors.

3.0 Methods and results

3.1 Qualitative Analysis method explained

Qualitative analysis is a method researchers use to obtain an in-depth understanding of business problems and address business goals (Zikmund et al. 2012). Because qualitative research is characterised by several features, it uses text as experimental material instead of numbers, and is interested in the perspectives of participants (Flick, 2007), often in a natural setting (Zikmund et al, 2012). As a great deal of qualitative research has an interpretive approach to it (Flick, 2007), and the researcher is intimately involved, the results are subjective (Zikmund et al. 2012). A qualitative approach is beneficial when using a small sample of data and involves less structured techniques such as face-to-face interviews (Zikmund et al. 2012).

Six employees across various roles within the Amazon fulfillment centre were interviewed using a semi-formal, one-on-one interview style. The interviews were conducted in a quiet room at Amazon and lasted approximately thirty to fifty minutes in duration.

Transcripts from the interviews were coded for common themes regarding issues in Amazons warehouse fulfilment centre. These themes were then assessed against the the JD-R model. The results were recorded in a table categorised by themes and sub-themes. Sampling employees across a number of different roles in the fulfilment centre assisted in accurately reflecting the people of relevance and internal validity. As the interviews were conducted on site, in a more natural setting, Zikmund (2013) states is it is easier to maximise the external validity, as the results are more likely to generalize to the actual business situation. However, increased external validity comes at the expense of internal validity (Zikmund et al. 2013). When conducting an experiment, it is ideal to establish internal validity first and then focus on external validity (Zikmund et al. 2013).