{"id":306,"date":"2020-04-13T21:04:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T01:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/"},"modified":"2020-04-13T21:10:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T01:10:02","slug":"amazons-warehouse-wristbands","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon\u2019s Warehouse Wristbands"},"content":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2018\/02\/01\/582370715\/wrist-watching-amazon-patents-system-to-track-guide-employees-hands<\/a><\/p>\n

What are you doing with your hands right now? Patents filed by Amazon in 2018 attempt to answer this question for their warehouse employees. The patents are for the design of wearable wristbands which can both track a worker\u2019s location and hand movements. This technology has the potential to increase the efficiency of warehouses at a time when online orders are growing, and customers are increasingly promised faster delivery times. However, capturing data on employee\u2019s physical movements raises questions around if the loss of personal privacy is worth it.<\/p>\n

Location tracking of employees is nothing new. However, coupling this data with detailed recordings of how employees move their hands is entering uncharted territory in the world of people analytics \u2013physical monitoring of employees. Amazon has positioned this technology as a tool to increase operational efficiencies within their warehouses. The patent states that the existing tools for tracking inventory bin locations is uneconomical and inefficient. According to Amazon, rather than equipping employees with handheld scanners, which are commonly used in inventory management in e-commerce, wristbands would allow employees to \u201cfree up their hands from scanners and their eyes from computer screens\u201d. Further, the technology allows the wristband to send pulse signals to the employee, giving them feedback on what direction to move their hand in to reach the inventory bin they\u2019re looking for. The system can also determine if a worker has picked up an item from the correct bin and placed it in the correct location.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

From Amazon\u2019s perspective, it makes a lot of sense to invest in this type of innovation. Amazon has been at the forefront of developing innovations that will increase the efficiency in their warehouses – from building algorithms that design warehouse layouts to manufacturing robots that help fulfill orders. Further, given the company\u2019s value proposition is centered around increasingly faster delivery speeds for customers, Amazon warehouses face enormous pressure to find ways to increase efficiency and meet delivery promises despite the volume of orders continuously growing. By implementing technology like the one outlined in the patent, workers will hopefully be able to both restock the warehouse faster by putting items in the correct bins more efficiently and find items for customer orders more quickly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, despite the arguments for why this technology will improve efficiency in the Amazon warehouses, it raises concerns around the company is crossing a line and compromising employees\u2019 privacy. These wristbands may not only capture hand motions in relation to official work. They may also capture highly private data for employee hand movement and location such as how often a worker scratches, when a person slows down or when an employee takes a bathroom break.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear if Amazon has yet to implement this technology across its workforce. However, given that workers have been unable to unionize and the high demand for jobs in the warehouses, it seems unlikely that employees would be able to have any significant bargaining power over increasing surveillance technology.<\/p>\n

Weighing the pros and cons of efficiency vs. privacy is not a new concept in human capital management. This application continues to raise the question of whether the efficiency gained from the wristbands is outweighed by the unprecedented surveillance of employees\u2019 every hand motion. Although warehouses may increasingly be equipped with high-tech robots, viewing employees in a similar way is concerning and may lead to the overweighting of incremental improvements in efficiency at the expense of personal privacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2018, Amazon filed patents for wristbands that would track the location and hand movements of employees in their warehouses. Has the pursuit for efficiency come at too high a cost? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11347,"featured_media":307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-306","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","hck-taxonomy-organization-amazon","hck-taxonomy-industry-retail","hck-taxonomy-country-united-states"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/assignment\/lpa-blog-assignment\/","yoast_head":"\nAmazon\u2019s Warehouse Wristbands - Leading with People Analytics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amazon\u2019s Warehouse Wristbands - Leading with People Analytics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2018, Amazon filed patents for wristbands that would track the location and hand movements of employees in their warehouses. Has the pursuit for efficiency come at too high a cost?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leading with People Analytics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-14T01:10:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2020\/04\/amazon-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/submission\\\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/submission\\\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\\\/\",\"name\":\"Amazon\u2019s Warehouse Wristbands - Leading with People Analytics\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/submission\\\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/submission\\\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/30\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/amazon-logo.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-14T01:04:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-14T01:10:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/submission\\\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/submission\\\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/submission\\\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/30\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/amazon-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/30\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/amazon-logo.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/submission\\\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Amazon\u2019s Warehouse Wristbands\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/\",\"name\":\"Leading with People Analytics\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-peopleanalytics\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Amazon\u2019s Warehouse Wristbands - Leading with People Analytics","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Amazon\u2019s Warehouse Wristbands - Leading with People Analytics","og_description":"In 2018, Amazon filed patents for wristbands that would track the location and hand movements of employees in their warehouses. Has the pursuit for efficiency come at too high a cost?","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/","og_site_name":"Leading with People Analytics","article_modified_time":"2020-04-14T01:10:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2020\/04\/amazon-logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/","name":"Amazon\u2019s Warehouse Wristbands - Leading with People Analytics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2020\/04\/amazon-logo.png","datePublished":"2020-04-14T01:04:23+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-14T01:10:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2020\/04\/amazon-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2020\/04\/amazon-logo.png","width":500,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/amazons-warehouse-wristbands\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Amazon\u2019s Warehouse Wristbands"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/","name":"Leading with People Analytics","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11347"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}