(Image: Chang W. Lee / The New York Times)
A New York Times article about a new California law that requires warehouses like Amazon to disclose quotas and work speed metrics to employees and government agencies includes comments from Beth Gutelius, research director for the Center for Urban Economic Development at UIC and senior research specialist with the Great Cities Institute at UIC, who says the legislation is unprecedented as it mediates the ways that technology is used in the workplace.
“I believe one of Amazon’s biggest competitive advantages over rivals is this ability to monitor their work force, prod workers to work faster and discipline workers when they fail to meet quotas,” said Beth Gutelius, research director at the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois Chicago.
“It’s unprecedented for a bill to intervene like this in the ways that technology is used in the workplace,” added Dr. Gutelius, who focuses on warehousing and logistics.
