Amazon has announced that it will immediately launch an internal investigation after it became known that customer service employees in the Philippine city Cebu city spend the night on the office floor. The employees are part of the teams that provide service via Teleperformance to US customers of Ring (the camera doorbell) delivered through Amazon. The Financial Times was shown footage and states that the employees have sent a letter to management about the lack of promised sleeping facilities.

The "hundreds" of employees can shower in a nearby hotel, but sleep on the floor of the contact center, according to the FT. In Cebu City, police are monitoring public life, which is virtually a lockdown as all commuting via public transportation has been halted. According to Amazon, the promised sleeping arrangements are voluntary. The UNI Global Union claims that bonuses have been promised in the amount of three monthly salaries if the schedule adherence remains the same for at least 95 percent.

The employment contract that the FT could see contained a clause that employees are not allowed to discuss their work with the media in any way, under penalty of a fine of 500.000 pesos (about two years' salary) and immediate dismissal. According to the FT, the Teleperformance branch also works for Netflix, but with this account employees have been encouraged to work from home, which is being done on a large scale. (Financial Times)

Human Resources Teleperformance