Business Analysis Report: Employee Issues and Challenges at Amazon

This report provides a business analysis of employee-related issues and challenges faced by Amazon. It examines these issues through the lens of the job demand and resource model, identifying key elements and analyzing feedback from six Amazon employees collected through a qualitative methodology. The report highlights employee dissatisfaction stemming from the fast-paced work environment and suggests that Amazon should prioritize non-financial benefits to enhance employee involvement and work-life balance. The analysis includes a review of literature on the job demand-resource model, a discussion of the mitigation of business problems, and managerial decision statements. Findings from the qualitative analysis, based on responses to a single question, reveal varying levels of satisfaction among employees, with a common concern being the demanding work pace. The report concludes with recommendations for improvement, aiming to address the identified issues and enhance employee well-being and organizational performance.

Running head: BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Business analysis
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Executive summary
The main purpose of this report is to discuss about the major employee related issues and
challenges faced by Amazon. The issues are analyzed on the basis of the employee demand and
resource model and different elements are identified. Moreover, the feedback from the
responders is collected on the basis of qualitative method and involving a total of six employees
of Amazon. These six employees are given a single and same question and their differences in
response are identified. It is identified that majority of the employees are not satisfied with the
current workplace scenario at Amazon and the major reason identified is the fast pace process.
This report suggested that employees at Amazon should be offered with non financial benefits
over the current financial benefits. This will ensure the higher involvement of the employees and
their personal life will not get affected due to their job demands.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Review of the literature...................................................................................................................4
Introduction..................................................................................................................................4
Mitigation of business problems..................................................................................................5
Managerial decisions statements.................................................................................................6
Research methodology.....................................................................................................................7
Findings.......................................................................................................................................8
Recommendations............................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference.......................................................................................................................................11

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List of figures and tables
Table 1: Determination of the major issues.....................................................................................5
Table 2: Managerial mitigating statements......................................................................................8
Table: 3 Analysis of the responses................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Amazon is considered as one of the leading companies in the world and it is also
considered as the most customer centric organization in the world. This denotes the favorable
internal factors and conditions in the workplace, which is not in the real world situation as
reported by latest reports. Amazon is the leading online retailer in the world with having huge
product assortment and diversity and having their presence across the world. However, in the
recent time, it is reported that employees in the Australian warehouse facility of Amazon cannot
get accustomed with the high performing workplace culture (Alfes et al. 2013). They are being
put under continuous pressure for better performance and thus their work life balance is getting
affected. This is leading to the dissatisfaction among the major section of the workforce and
affecting the overall organizational performance of Amazon. It is seen that in the recent months,
employee turnover rate of Amazon is steadily increasing due to the increasing dissatisfaction
among the employees.
This report will evaluate the different opinions being provided by the authors regarding
the job demand and resource model and this model will be the most effective in managing the
favorable workplace environment. In addition, the methodology of collecting the primary data
will also be evaluated and on the basis of the identified issues, a few steps and strategies will be
suggested.
Firm situation Symptoms Likely problems Decision statement
Employee
dissatisfaction
Reduction in the
organizational
commitment and
Employees will not be
effective and efficient
enough to meet the
More involvement in
the decision making
process will enhance

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citizenships of the
employees
business and market
requirements
the satisfaction level
of the employees
Employee turnover
rate
Rate of outflow of
employees is
increasing compared
to the rate of inflow
Lack of right sets of
employees with right
skills and expertise
Employee benefits
and loyalty programs
will help to retain
them
Low productivity Average cost per
employee is
increasing
Organizational
performance is getting
affected in the
competitive scenario
Training and skill
development
programs will ensure
the better performance
of the employees
Table 1: Determination of the major issues
Review of the literature
Introduction
Job demand resource model is one of the most effective and suitable business concepts
for managing the employee stress and motivation. As per Grover et al. (2017), job demand
resource model is having major four elements on the basis of different workplace scenario. The
objective of this model is to find the perfect balance between the job resources and job demands
in the particular workplace condition, which further refers to the fact that if the required
resources can be fulfilled for the demand of the job, then the worker strain will be low and vice
versa. On the other hand, it is stated by Lin, Wong and Ho (2015) that requirement of the job

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resources is different for different job profiles and in different business situations. In this case, it
is important for the managers to ensure that the job resources are being identified on the basis of
the job demands and they are fulfilled accordingly. Job demand and resource model is also
evolving in nature and the current approach of this model is different to what it was a few years
ago. According to Hwang and Ramdoss (2017), job demand resource model states about the
different job resources that are important for the different job demands and these job demands
are changing with time. The current expectations from the employees in the workplace are
different to what were expected from them a few years ago. Hence, as per the authors, this model
is also evolving in nature with the change in the workplace scenario and condition.
However, on the other hand, Vander Elst et al. (2016) stated that job demand resource
model is not full proof and is having a number of limitations. One of the major limitations
identified by him is the lack of consideration of different and multiple elements. This refers to
the fact that not all the factors are included in the job resources of job demand resource model. In
the current business state of affairs, working environment is changing at a rapid pace and thus
the business factors are also changing. They are not limited within the job resources stated in this
model. Furthermore, it is stated by Demerouti, Bakker and Halbesleben (2015) that requirement
of the job resource might be different to that of the expectations of the employees. This is due to
the reason that in the current business environment, diverse sets of employees are expecting
diverse sets of resources that are beyond on what are stated in the job demand and resource
model. Hence, it can be concluded that job demand resource model is not effective and well
aligned with the current diverse business factors.
Mitigation of business problems

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It is important to review the advantages and benefits of the job demand resource model in
mitigating the business problems. According to Noesgaard and Hansen (2018), with the help of
the job demand and resource model, employees can be classified on the basis of different
conditions and resources can be determined accordingly. For instance, employees with having
high strain and low motivation level should be provided with high level of resources and low
level of demands to make them feel involved. In the case of Amazon, it is identified that they are
facing the issues of high level of job stress among the employees with level of production. In this
case, the effective implementation of the job demand and research model will be beneficial in the
identification of the required resources for Amazon and enhance the employee performance
accordingly. In addition, it is stated by Fernet et al. (2013) that job characteristics for the
employees at Amazon can be designed on the basis of the required job demands and the
identified issues can be mitigated. This is also being stated by the authors that with the help of
the job demand and resource model, each of the requirements and expectations of the employees
can be identified and resources can be provided accordingly.
Managerial decisions statements
Research problem Research aims and goals Mitigating decision
How to identify the
lack of employee
motivation?
Involving key performance
indicators such as
employee performance
graph
Job demand resource model states about
the ways of enhancements of employee
motivation. These resources and
components should be provided to the
employees (Shahzadi et al. 2014).
How to meet the
employee job stress?
Determination of the
factors that contributes in
Job resources and job demand should be
properly aligned and related to reduce

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managing the job stress the job stress from them (Finney et al.
2013).
Checking increasing
employee turnover
rate
Identification of the
reasons based on which,
the employees are leaving
the workplace
As per the job demand and resource
model, resources for the employees
should be offered according to their
requirements and it will ensure the
lowering of employee turnover (Stanley
et al. 2013)
How to maximize
employee
performance and
productivity?
Determination of the
expectations and
requirements of the
employees in terms of their
job profile
The more will be the motivation and
engagement of the employees in
workplace, the more will be their
performance and productivity (Elnaga
and Imran 2013).
Table 2: Managerial mitigating statements
Research methodology
In this report, qualitative analysis is being used for collecting the data and information
because with the help of the qualitative analysis, insights of the respondents are being identified
and evaluated, which is not possible in the case of quantitative analysis. According to Elo et al.
(2014), qualitative analysis refers to the process of identifying the response on the basis of the
subjective opinions of the respondents. In this case, the respondents are encouraged to provide
feedback in more detailed way rather than getting bound within the given numeric values. Thus,

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the individual differences among the respondents can also be identified with the help of the
qualitative analysis.
In terms of collecting data from the respondents, this report initiated the approach of open
ended question, which is asked to each of the six employees of Amazon. Total six respondents
are involved and each of them is asked with the same question and encouraged to come up with
as much detail information as possible. This is due to the reason that determination of detailed
response from the side of the employees towards a same question helped to identify the
effectiveness of the current employee management strategies of Amazon. Each of the six
respondents has responded without the association of others in order to keep their opinions
confidential and private. It also helped in preventing the external influence over the responses.
Internal and external validation of the analysis is also being done and it is identified that in the
case of internal validity, this analysis is validated enough because of its approach. Same question
is asked to all the respondents to ensure the majority view. This also ensured that a single view is
not being accepted based on one response and different and diverse factors are considered. In
addition, as the responses are directly gathered from the respondents, authenticity is ensured. On
the other hand, in the case of external validity, the findings will be effective for the real world
implementation because different views on a single factor are denoting the evidence. However,
still a few limitations might get emerged such as representation. This is due to the reason that
only six respondents are interviewed and these six cannot represent the entire workforce of
Amazon.
Findings

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Question: Respondent 1 Respondent 2 Respondent 3 Respondent 4 Respondent 5 Respondent 6
What is it like
to work for
Amazon?
It is identified
that he is not
satisfied with
the job profile
and identified
the unethical
employment
practices as the
key reason
He is also not
satisfied with
the job and fast
paced work is
the key reason.
He also
identified the
lack of
empathy for
the employees
He is relatively
satisfied and
his supervisors
are also good
and effective
enough.
However, he
also holds
negative
impression
regarding the
management
He is the most
dissatisfied
among all the
respondents
and he also
identified the
pace paced
work as the
reason
He states that
the customer
centricity of
Amazon is
further creating
pressure for
the employees
in meeting
their
expectations
and thus they
are forced to
work faster
This
respondent is
relatively fine
with Amazon
but is focused
on having a
good and
cooperative
team
Table: 3 Analysis of the responses
Recommendations
There are number of areas of improvement identified for Amazon from the above
analysis and it is important to mitigate each of these areas in order to have further improvement.
It is suggested that employee feedback policy and practice should be reviewed and reorganized
by Amazon. This is due to the fact that with the increase in the involvement of the employees in
the feedback management system, their issues and challenges will be effectively communicated

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to the upper level management and they will be aware about the core reasons for lowering
performance. Furthermore, non financial benefits should be provided to the employees because
they are already having financial incentives but that is not complementing their fast pace and
stressful job schedule. In this case, it is suggested that non financial benefits such as work life
balance and work flexibility should be initiated to ensure the higher level of employee
motivation and retention. Hence, the present rate of employee turnover can get reduced.
Conclusion
It is concluded that Amazon should also become employee centric similar to their current
customer centric approach. The analysis done in this report denoted that majority of the
employee of Amazon are not satisfied with their fast paced and high pressure job in the
workplace. It is also identified that opinions of the employees are not given the due
consideration, which is also motivating them to leave the workplace. This report suggested that
non financial benefits should be offered to the employees in order to increase their job
satisfaction and reduction of the workplace stress.

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Reference
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