Global Courant 2023-05-26 04:57:06
Sarah Rhoads, who was responsible for AmazonThe e-retailer’s fast-growing airfreight business is shifting roles to oversee the e-retailer’s occupational health and safety department.
John Felton, Amazon’s head of global operations, announced the move Thursday in a note to staff, according to a copy of the memo viewed by CNBC. Rhoads will also lead Amazon’s global operations learning and development unit, which deals with issues such as career advancement and skill enhancement in the company’s frontline workforce.
“Safety is paramount in every aspect of aerospace and other industries look to aviation for safety best practices,” Felton wrote in the memo. “Sarah’s background as a decorated military pilot and her success leading Amazon Global Air positions her as the ideal leader to take on this critical role.”
Raoul Sreenivasan, who joined Amazon in 2016 and currently oversees scheduling, performance and freight for Amazon Global Air, will take over most Amazon Air responsibilities from Rhoads, Felton said. Before joining Amazon, Sreenivasan worked at DHL and TNT Express, a European courier acquired by FedEx.
Rhoads, a former US Navy F-18 pilot, was one of the top executives in Amazon’s sprawling logistics industry. She joined the e-commerce giant in 2011.
In recent years, Amazon has steadily moved more of its fulfillment and logistics operations indoors, building a transportation network the company says rivals UPS in size.
As part of an effort to process and deliver more of its own packages, Amazon launched an air freight business. Rhoads joined Amazon Air early on and has overseen much of the unit’s growth, including the opening of a $1.5 billion air hub in Kentucky.
Amazon has contracted more passenger airlines to fly packages in addition to other operators such as Atlas air And ATSG. Sun Country, a leisure-focused airline, began flying converted Boeing 737 freighters for Amazon in 2020 after travel collapsed during the Covid pandemic. In October, Amazon announced it had reached an agreement with Hawaiian Airlines to fly leased Airbus A330 converted cargo planes, the largest aircraft in Amazon’s fleet and the first Airbus jets. The planes will help replace older jets in the company’s fleet, Amazon said.
Air freight rates have fallen from record highs reached in late 2021, when port grunts and a shortage of international flights squeezed capacity and drove up prices. The recovery in air traffic has brought capacity to market, while inflation has fueled shifts in consumer spending. FedEx said last year it would park some planes and reduce some of its flights as part of its plan to cut costs.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is in the middle of a broad review of the company’s spending as the company factors in an economic downturn and slowing growth in its core business. Amazon has rapidly scaled its fulfillment and transportation network in recent years in response to a pandemic-induced surge in demand. Since then, several warehouses in the US have been closed, canceled or delayed
The company is also under increasing pressure to address its track record in workplace safety. Workers criticized Amazon’s response to the coronavirus, arguing it wasn’t doing enough to protect them at work, and the company faced widespread criticism over injury rates at its warehouses.
In September, Amazon appointed Becky Gansert to oversee its workplace health and safety unit after Heather MacDougall resigned from the company, CNBC previously reported.
Amazon has disputed reports of unsafe working conditions. During MacDougall’s tenure, the company set ambitious goals to reduce injuries, including a plan to reduce the number of recorded incidents, a federal government measure of injury and illness, by half by 2025.
Last year, Amazon committed to becoming “Earth’s Best Employer,” adding the company to its list of corporate values even as labor unrest intensified. The executive charged with overseeing that effort, Pam Greer, left Amazon last April, according to Bloomberg.
Correction: Sarah Rhoads joined Amazon in 2011. An earlier version misrepresented the year.
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