Amazon warehouse managers are overriding, disabling, or dodging the company’s new automated staffing software, prompting plans for stricter enforcement, according to internal documents and Slack messages seen by Business Insider.
Quick Backstory: Last month, I reported that Amazon is testing software that reassigns warehouse workers to different sections of the facility in real time as package volumes shift. The tool, called Full Facility Load Balancing, rechecks staffing every few minutes and flags workers to move from overstaffed spots to locations that need more attention, which the documents project could save nearly 7M labor hours and $193M a year — while simultaneously helping to ensure that employees never get a single moment of reprieve while on the clock.
Well, as predicted, no one really likes having a computer algorithm tell them how to do their job. So the managers have not been using it, much to the dismay of Amazon.
Business Insider wrote:
“The documents reveal two competing philosophies of warehouse management. Some managers believe warehouses are still too dynamic for algorithms to understand every situation. Amazon, however, saw that too much human judgment prevented those algorithms from working as intended.”
It turns out that getting managers to trust software to make decisions, while still holding the managers accountable for those decisions, is a difficult ask. Plus, what manager wants to give preference to an algorithm that is likely being positioned to take their jobs? I feel like companies aren’t even hiding it anymore.
Also, apparently the software isn’t that great. Some managers said it lacked the context they had on the warehouse floor, giving examples of times the system overreacted to a brief slowdown in package volume and recommended staffing cuts that didn’t reflect the real conditions. Others complained that the system pulled workers away from urgent areas or that it caused packages to repeatedly circulate through the warehouse instead of being processed the first time.
One manager asked in Slack, “Does it understand 6 foot three Henry that weighs 250 pounds is way better at chasing than 67-year old Henrietta that weighs under 100 pounds and doesn’t reach 5 foot?”
Regardless, the days of ignoring your algorithmic overlords are over. Amazon wrote in one planning document, “Enforcement is our highest-leverage mechanism and we’re doubling down… Hard enforcement is the end goal for 2026.”
Amazon called the story’s premise wrong, saying it’s piloting the tools at a small number of U.S. sites to give managers better information rather than replace their judgment, and that the quotes came from an early-stage planning document. I guess we’ll see though.
