Amazon Changes Peformance Metric Blamed for Warehouse Injuries

Amazon.com Inc. is overhauling a controversial worker-productivity yardstick that has drawn the ire of warehouse employees who say it imposes an unsafe burden on them.

The world’s largest online retailer uses sophisticated algorithms to monitor productivity at its facilities, and employees must explain why they’ve been away from their workstations -- what Amazon calls “time off task.” If they reach a certain threshold they’ll be issued warnings and even terminated.

“Starting today, we’re now averaging Time off Task over a longer period,” Dave Clark, the chief executive officer of Amazon’s global retail and logistics business, said Tuesday in a ...