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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


In the midst of mass layoffs amongst several tech companies, an article that addresses a move at Amazon to scale back some its HR department is especially timely and noteworthy.  While the three below articles are all worth a read, I call particular attention to the article that delves into the HR related development.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Where a Minimum Wage Rate Goes the Furthest…& Where it Does Not

Last week, an article was published that took a look at what parts of the country the minimum wage rate goes furthest and where it falls short.  As the article notes, hourly workers in Denver and Spokane (among a few other cities) seem to be doing well, while hourly workers in Honolulu and Plano see just the opposite.  The article notes that the high(er) cost of living in a place like Honolulu impacts how far an hourly worker can stretch their dollar compared to a lower cost of living location like Denver.


Amazon Set to Scale Back HR Workforce That Assists Warehouse Workers

Lauren Rosenblatt at The Seattle Times wrote an article recently in which it was noted that Amazon is on the verge of drastically scaling back its HR workforce that interacts with the company’s warehouse workers.  According to the article, last August, Amazon created a system in which it enabled warehouse workers to talk to and interact with an actual human in HR rather than a bot when a warehouse worker had questions over pay, time off, etc.  However, as part of the company’s announced layoff of 18,000 employees, Amazon intends to cut from its HR department (notwithstanding the buyouts it has recently offered HR staff.)


Support For Organized Labor Is Up, But Membership Is Stagnant?

Axios published an article a few days ago in which it was noted that despite there being an uptick in support for organized labor across the board, actual union membership has not taken off as well.  As the article notes, there are several reasons for why this may be the case including pushback from companies and missteps by organized labor.  Will union membership start to gain traction while organized labor is on somewhat of a win streak?

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