I was a warehouse wage slave
By: Michael Davis
Characteristics
Efficiency: A scenario is given in the employee practical training illustrating how each employee should be careful, yet move as fast as humanly possible. The company is training each employee from a computer-generated scanner how to detect, scan and find objects and place them back on shelves as fast as possible.
Calculability: The company constantly reminds all employees that productivity, good customer experience, or essential for company growth and with company growth it is the key to how the company can lower there prices which in turn will lead to better customer experience. At the end of the day the company has calculated there is no room inefficiencies.
Predictability: In this article the company strongly believes that if the employees are consistent and follow their guidelines and company policies they are able to forecast and predict the outcome.
Control: During the application and training process a video is played loudly, showing how you can hurt the company by oversleeping on the job, being late on the job, and if you are sick, how you miss the opportunity to get over time pay.
Irrationality: The company in this article stress being on time and prompt to work, yet if you are one minute late you will be instantly fired.
Des killing- The article identifies a company of using mind control of employees, intimidation examples of how each employee must following a set of rules and if not the consequences will be termination, and all employees are aware they can be easily replaced because of the ratio of people looking for work. Another example would be how this company views each employee as an object on a conveyer belt that is constantly in motion only for the bottom-line of the company with no inefficiencies.
Consumer workers: As employees prepare for the first day of training, each are told to be present and arrive at 5 even though each will not be paid to be at work unit 6. If you don’t show up on time you will be terminated.