Amazon plans to set up “wellness rooms” in its warehouses to allow its stressed workers to sit in them and watch relaxation videos.
And nothing, even this summary would be enough to start a debate. But I'll tell you better: in a video shared on its Twitter account, Amazon announced that a special wellness cabin called “AmaZen” will help staff focus on their mental health.
It does not even have time to realize that it is not fake news, but it is all true: the post was deleted after being literally overwhelmed by a wave of mockery through social media.
And you know why
The retail giant is perceived as a long way from the word "well-being". On the other hand, he has been pointed out several times for the uneasiness complained of by his employees both in warehouses and in shipments. The latest outcry, to the (web) cry of #payyourworkerss it's just two days ago.
Attempts to overturn this perception, placing the emphasis on work well-being, will be quite arduous. And for now they are done in a rather confusing way.
On May 17, the company announced a plan called WorkingWell focused on offering staff “physical and mental activities, wellbeing exercises and healthy eating support”.
The gimmick of the wellness cabin for employees
Describing the AmaZen stands, the Bezos Company put it this way:
During shifts, employees can visit AmaZen stations and watch short videos with easy-to-follow wellness activities: guided meditations, positive affirmations, relaxing scenes with sounds.
In the now deleted Twitter video, there was space in the capsule. A chair, a small computer table, small potted plants on shelves. On the roof, a beautiful blue sky. Doesn't it remind you of the cubicles of that anguished episode of Black Mirror, where throngs of "modern slaves" pedaled on exercise bikes to feed "the world above", driven only by the desire to emerge?
And I went easy on it
Someone went harder than me, referring to these "wellness booths" as coffin-sized stands in the middle of an Amazon warehouse. Undoubtedly more emblematic and less sophisticated image.
Exactly halfway the so-called "irony of the web": the best of the judgments was "a crying booth". It seems that (for how long?) Someone is still able to recognize a dystopia. I consider it, yes, a sign of mental well-being.
