Amazon Tests Wearable System to Automate Check-In Data for Indirect Warehouse Roles

Amazon is testing a program called Right Station Link that uses wearable devices to automatically capture check-in and labor-hours data for indirect warehouse roles. Insider reported that the roles include equipment maintenance, safety coordination, and floor management.

Internal documents from March showed these positions account for roughly $2.8 billion in labor spending, or 85 million labor hours.

The system initially relied on Zebra WS501 scanners worn on the back of the hand. Devices deliver assignments and break notifications, and missed check-ins send alerts to managers. Before the program, managers documented station changes manually on a digital platform, an Amazon spokesperson said.

Amazon later eliminated manual time editing and required labor hours to be coded through its internal staffing system. The company wants to expand Right Station Link to all North American warehouses before the holiday peak season. Leaders warned that Zebra device delivery delays could create significant risk to timelines and reduce expected financial benefits.

Amazon is making the software compatible with other devices already deployed in facilities. The program is being piloted at a small number of sites. The system does not measure individual productivity or track workers' real-time movements, the spokesperson said.

It lets employees check into stations and receive assignment updates as a natural extension of existing workforce-management processes. The $2.8 billion figure represents a theoretical modeled opportunity for a category of data not yet integrated into the staffing platform at the time of the analysis, the spokesperson added.