Our earlier blog about Amazon revealed the intensity of management control imposed upon them. Workers at the Tesco distribution centre in Dublin are now wearing digital arm-band devices that constantly monitor their performance. Known as arm-mounted terminals (AMTs), workers said that the Motorola devices were used to monitor the performance of 'order pickers', who load supplies, and forklift drivers. They are not used by managers or administrative workers.
The device instructs employees how to pick their orders by scanning barcodes and stacking goods on a trolley. It also has an in-built performance monitor, which grades them every time they collect goods in the warehouse and bring them to a dispatch area. They said they got percentage scores for collection assignments, like loading beer or toilet rolls. The devices give a set amount of time for a task, such as 20 minutes to load packets of soft drinks. If they did it in 20 minutes, they would get 100pc, but would get 200pc if they were twice as fast.
Workers claim they got lower scores on the rating system if they keyed in that they went to the toilet or took a break but spokesman said there was a 'break' function used to log stoppages for genuine reasons, including going on breaks. "An average of 25 minutes a day has been factored into the system for genuine breaks," he said. "This has been in place since the system was introduced and means that break times do not impact on productivity scores in any way."
One former picker, who did not want to be named, said staff were under huge pressure due to the devices. "You might get 80pc because you took a break, and would have to get 120pc later on to make it up. Some guys were amazing and got averages of 110pc all the time. The guys who made the scores were sweating buckets and throwing stuff around the place."
And you thought that electronic tagging was only for criminals!
The device instructs employees how to pick their orders by scanning barcodes and stacking goods on a trolley. It also has an in-built performance monitor, which grades them every time they collect goods in the warehouse and bring them to a dispatch area. They said they got percentage scores for collection assignments, like loading beer or toilet rolls. The devices give a set amount of time for a task, such as 20 minutes to load packets of soft drinks. If they did it in 20 minutes, they would get 100pc, but would get 200pc if they were twice as fast.
Workers claim they got lower scores on the rating system if they keyed in that they went to the toilet or took a break but spokesman said there was a 'break' function used to log stoppages for genuine reasons, including going on breaks. "An average of 25 minutes a day has been factored into the system for genuine breaks," he said. "This has been in place since the system was introduced and means that break times do not impact on productivity scores in any way."
One former picker, who did not want to be named, said staff were under huge pressure due to the devices. "You might get 80pc because you took a break, and would have to get 120pc later on to make it up. Some guys were amazing and got averages of 110pc all the time. The guys who made the scores were sweating buckets and throwing stuff around the place."
And you thought that electronic tagging was only for criminals!
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