Amazon Will Let Warehouse Workers Keep Their Phones on Them at Work
Amazon has decided to let warehouse workers keep their phones on them during their shifts.
Workers in Amazon warehouses previously had to leave their phones outside—in their lockers, vehicles, or presumably anywhere but their workspace—before entering the facilities. That policy was put on hold at the start of the pandemic, but the company originally planned to reinstate it.
Motherboard reports that Amazon was set to resume the no-phones-at-work policy in January. That was before a Class 3 tornado struck an Illinois warehouse, killing six Amazon drivers, in December 2021. The company then decided to put the policy on hold indefinitely.
Amazon told employees on April 27 that it was making the policy change permanent. As the company explained in an internal message to warehouse workers obtained by PCMag:
"In 2020, one of the many changes we made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was creating a temporary policy for mobile phone use inside our buildings, specifically for emergency needs and sharing important information through our expanded mobile app, A to Z.
We recognize the desire for employees to keep their mobile phones with them inside facilities, and the last two years have demonstrated that we can safely do so. Therefore, we are making the temporary phone policy permanent, worldwide, in all of our Operations facilities."
The company also told warehouse workers that it would "share the full policy on A to Z and in Stand Up meetings" and advised anyone with questions about the policy to "speak with your manager or HR." It's not clear why that additional information wasn't provided in that message.
The move comes after increased criticism about the working conditions in Amazon's facilities, which led to workers
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