Amazon’s focus on speed, surveillance drives higher warehouse worker injuries, study finds
An employee looks for items in one of the corridors at an Amazon warehouse.
Carlos Jasso | Reuters
Amazon warehouse workers are suffering physical injuries and mental stress on the job as a result of the company’s extreme focus on speed and pervasive surveillance, according to a new study.
The study, released Wednesday by the University of Illinois Chicago’s Center for Urban Economic Development, includes responses from 1,484 current Amazon workers across 42 states and 451 facilities, in what the authors are calling the largest nationwide survey of Amazon workers to date.
Nearly 70% of Amazon employees who participated in the survey said they’ve had to take unpaid time off due to pain or exhaustion suffered on the job in the past month, while 34% have had to do so three or more times. The most common injury reported by workers was sprains, strains or tears, and nearly half of respondents said they had moderate or severe pain in the leg, knee or foot in the last three months on the job. More than half of workers said they’re burned out from their work at the company, and that response rate intensified the longer the employee had worked at Amazon.
The data adds to a drumbeat of scrutiny around Amazon’s workplace safety and treatment of warehouse employees. Regulators, lawmakers, rights groups and employees have criticized Amazon — which is the second-largest employer in the U.S., behind Walmart — over its labor record. The researchers estimate Amazon is the largest warehouse employer in the country, accounting for an estimated 29% of workers in the industry.
Amazon had roughly 1.46 million employees globally, as of the quarter ended June 30, and the majority are warehouse and delivery workers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are investigating conditions at several warehouses, while the U.S. Department of Justice is examining whether Amazon underreports injuries. In June, a Senate committee led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also launched a probe into Amazon’s warehouse safety.
Amazon has said it has made progress on lowering injury rates and that the company has made adjustments to working environments in order to reduce strain and repetitive movements. It has begun to automate some tasks and is also rolling out more robotic systems in warehouse facilities that the company claims can improve safety, although that prospect has been debated.
About 64% of workers who participated in the survey said they feel the safety of workers is a high priority at Amazon, but that sentiment is lower among those who reported negative impacts to their physical health from the job.
Workers fulfill orders at an Amazon fulfillment center on Prime Day in Melville, New York, US, on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.
Johnny Milano | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Role of speed and surveillance
Safety critics have increasingly zeroed in on Amazon’s speedy pace of work and close monitoring of employee productivity as factors that lead to a heightened risk of injuries.
The survey results underscored that point, finding that those who reported injuries on the job while working at Amazon are more likely to say that keeping up is hard than workers who have not been injured.
Approximately 44% of workers surveyed said they couldn’t take breaks when they need to, according to the study. “A key mechanism for workers to maintain a fast pace of work without injury is the ability to take breaks and recover from periods of intense work,” the researchers said.
Employees pointed to “technology-enabled workplace monitoring” as something that reinforces the pace of work, while 53% of respondents said they always or most of the time “feel a sense of being watched or monitored in their work at the company.”
“We see clear evidence in our data that work intensity and monitoring contribute to negative health outcomes,” the researchers said.
Amazon uses a variety of metrics to measure warehouse workers’ activity on the job, the researchers said, including rate, or the number of tasks they’re expected to complete per hour; task time, which measures the average time between scans with a barcode scanner; and idle time, or “time off task,” which measures time a worker isn’t scanning items while on the clock.
Workers have argued that the time off task policy makes working conditions more strenuous and that it’s used as a tool to surveil workers. Amazon in 2021 adjusted its time off task policy so that it averages data over a longer period.
WATCH: Amazon’s worker safety hazards come under fire from regulators and the DOJ
The logo of multinational tech company Foxconn (also known as Hon Hai), which is a major manufacturer for Apple products, in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 16, 2025.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
Foxconn, a key Nvidia partner in its artificial intelligence buildout, saw its revenue spike 26% year-on-year in November, as demand for servers continued to ramp up amid the AI boom.
The Taiwanese company, also known as Hon Hai, is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and makes the servers that hold chips in data centers, as well as assembling Apple’s iPhone.
Foxconn on Friday reported “strong growth” year-on-year for its cloud and networking products, pointing to “momentum for AI server racks,” in its monthly revenue report. It reported revenue of NT$844.3 billion ($27 billion) for November.
A longstanding partner to many of the world’s largest tech companies including Nvidia and Apple, Foxconn has become a key player in the rollout of AI infrastructure in recent times.
It was announced in May that the company would provide infrastructure to a major AI factory in Taiwan, in collaboration with Nvidia and the Taiwanese government. Two months later Foxconn announced it was taking a stake in data center construction company TECO Electric & Machinery Co.
OpenAI said last month that it would collaborate with the Taiwanese company on design work and U.S. manufacturing readiness for next generation AI infrastructure hardware.
Foxconn’s month-on-month revenue was down around 6%, with the company pointing to its smart consumer electronics segment slightly declining.
“AI server rack shipments continue to ramp up, and ICT products are in peak season in the second half of the year,” the monthly report said in its business outlook for the fourth quarter.
The company said in November that growth in its AI server business had seen its third-quarter profits jump 17% year-on-year.
Foxconn’s share price has jumped 26% since the start of 2025, following a 76% uptick over the previous 12 months.
Yi He, co-founder of Binance, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on May 10, 2023.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Binance Holdings, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, named a new co-CEO Wednesday in a major shake-up of its leadership structure.
Yi He, who co-founded Binance with former head Changpeng Zhao in 2017 and has children with the crypto mogul, will now split duties with acting CEO Richard Teng, who announced the news this week.
The move represents the firm’s most significant leadership change since Teng succeeded Zhao, who pleaded guilty to violating U.S. money-laundering laws in 2023.
Teng, who was appointed amid intense regulatory scrutiny of Binance and crypto more broadly, notably had a background in financial regulation and services, formerly holding a senior regulatory role at Singapore’s central bank.
“[Yi He] has been there from the start, and she has been driving a lot of changes and driving the growth of Binance,” Teng told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Wednesday shortly after the announcement.
Yi He’s elevation to the co-CEO position represents the appointment of an insider with longstanding ties to Zhao, also known as CZ.
The move comes after U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned CZ, who had previously pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering while heading the cryptocurrency exchange.
The Trump administration has taken a friendlier stance toward the crypto industry, with several high-profile cases dropped in recent months.
Queen behind the scenes
Yi He has maintained a relatively low public profile compared to CZ, with many details regarding her roles and activities at Binance unclear.
Her social profiles list her most recent position as Chief Customer Service Officer at the crypto exchange.
One of the last major public statements from the businesswoman was in defense of CZ during his 2024 trial, among 161 letters requesting leniency from the court.
In her letter written in Chinese, Yi He identified herself as CZ’s business partner and “the mother of his three children.”
She claimed that she met CZ at a public blockchain event in 2014, three years before Binance was founded. She was then working at cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin and recruited CZ to join her.
“As CZ’s life partner, I’ve known him for nearly ten years, so I understand a side of him that’s often overlooked,” she wrote in the 2024 letter defending him.
Binance said in a statement Wednesday that Yi He has “played a fundamental role in shaping Binance’s vision and culture, guiding a strategy focused on users’ needs and innovation.”
The company also included a public statement from Yi He, in which she emphasized her and Teng’s “complementary perspectives and shared vision.”
“Together, we bring diverse perspectives and are confident in leading the future of the industry during this pivotal time, as we responsibly expand our global presence and drive sustainable innovation with our users always at the center,” she said.
Federal probes into Binance have also referenced her role in the company. In 2020, U.S. prosecutors reportedly sought records of communications involving Yi He and other executives related to anti-money laundering compliance and the creation of Binance’s U.S. entity.
Media reports have previously painted Yi He as a “Crypto Queen” wielding massive sway behind the scenes at Binance.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal in 2023, Yi He was a former Chinese talk-show host before joining OKCoin, and she entered a relationship with CZ while working together in Shanghai.
The report added that He would assume sweeping control over the crypto giant’s marketing and investment divisions.
Binance and Yi He did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024