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Amazon has been trolled in a Saturday Night Live sketch which highlighted the gruelling conditions reportedly faced by employees on Prime Day.
In the skit, cast member Ego Nwodim plays an exhausted Amazon worker who described working so much she had to invent a new day called “Fluesday,” because of the relentlessness of the job.
Her character Monica, jokes about ordering a delivery to her own home just to catch a glimpse of her kids, underscoring a lack of work-life balance that is emblematic of recent criticisms faced by the retail giant.
The SNL segment aired amid ongoing controversies surrounding Amazon's labor practices. The company has faced scrutiny over allegations of difficult working conditions, particularly in its warehouses.
Last year, the online retail juggernaut was accused of allowing its warehouse staff in the US to work in extreme temperatures without proper ventilation, leading to multiple incidents of heat exhaustion.
Additionally, workers in New York's Staten Island warehouse walked off the job to protest unsafe conditions at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amazon's RTO mandate
Despite such incidents, Amazon’s demands on its employees continue to make headlines. The company recently imposed a five-day-a-week return-to-office mandate, drawing frustration from staff who had adjusted to remote work. Amazon’s reputation for long hours and rigid performance targets has also been long a topic of debate, with employees citing issues such as minimal breaks and the high physical demands of the job, particularly around peak times such as Prime Day.
While Amazon provides a variety of perks for its employees, recently giving some free Prime membership for instance, many have argued that the benefits do little to address the core issues affecting worker satisfaction. Reports have highlighted Amazon’s stringent performance metrics, which some employees say create a stressful work environment.
Recent and ongoing unionization efforts are seeing many workers calling for more reasonable working hours, better safety measures, and increased job security.
