April 16, 2021: -On Thursday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos laid out a broad vision for the company’s future in his final letter to his shareholders, committing to extend Amazon’s famous obsession for the customers to the same level of care for its employees.

Bezos points out the latest union election outcome at one of Amazon’s Alabama warehouses, saying it is a result of why the company needs to address its workforce challenges.

Amazon secured enough votes last week to defeat a historic unionization drive at its Bessemer, Alabama warehouse, which would have represented the first union at a U.S. Amazon facility if it was successful.

“While the voting results were lopsided and our direct relationship with employees is strong, it’s clear to me that we need a clear vision for how we create value for employees, a vision for their success,” said Bezos.

Amazon has held a core set of leadership principles, chief among them being “customer-obsessed.”  Bezos said he wants Amazon to do the same for its employees in the future.

“We wanted to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company. We won’t change that. It’s what got us here. But I am committing us to an addition. We are going to be Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work,” Bezos added.

In his new role as executive chairman, Bezos said that he is planning to focus on making Amazon’s warehouses even more safe. Roughly 40% of work-related injuries are sprains or strains mainly due to repeating the same motions and common among new employees.

To help reduce these types of injuries, Amazon is developing automated staffing schedules that rotate employees through different jobs that use other muscle-tendon groups. The company expects to begin deploying the technology later this year.