Amazon has faced backlash from its employees ever since it issued a return-to-office mandate earlier this year, and the company is now experiencing logistical issues enforcing its polarizing policy change. Amazon’s RTO policy declares that employees must be in office five days a week beginning next month, but the e-commerce giant may not have the space.
Bloomberg is reporting that the company is having to delay their RTO policy in “at least seven cities,” including Austin, Dallas, and Phoenix, for as long as four months. One source cited, said to be “familiar with the situation,” claims that Dallas employees were told that there would not be sufficient office space for all workers to return to office until March or April, while Manhattan employees may not have the required space until May. Business Insider has cited “internal Amazon notifications” saying that employees in Atlanta, Houston, and Nashville will not have enough space to return to offices five days a week in January.
An Amazon spokesperson has stated to Bloomberg that “most” of the RTO delays are not due to insufficient office space, but rather due to office buildings being rearranged to accommodate the influx of full-time workers. Whatever the reason, there are reports of employees being “relieved” at the delays, further demonstrating the unpopularity of the company’s aggressive mandate.
The following was originally published November 4, 2024:
Amazon is receiving pushback from its employees over its recently-announced return-to-office mandate, which would see all workers be required to work in-office five days a week. Reuters has reported that the company was sent a letter, signed by over 500 employees, dissenting against the policy and urging Amazon to reverse its stance.
The letter goes on to reject the statements made by Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman earlier this month, which include the claim that “nine out of 10” employees he spoke with support the new policy. Garman made this remark during the same all-hands company meeting that where he commented that “there are other companies around” if staff was unhappy with the new policy.
According to the employee-penned letter, Garman’s assertions are “inconsistent with the experiences of many employees,” and “misrepresenting the realities of working at Amazon.”
The following was originally published October 23, 2024:
Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman has some tough words for employees who are unhappy about the company’s return-to-office mandate. Last month, Amazon notified workers that, beginning next year, they would be expected to be present in the office 5 days a week. While exceptions will be made for emergencies, CEO Andy Jassy stated that the current norm of working remotely twice a week would no longer be an option.
Reuters has reported that an “all-hands” meeting took place at the company last week, where Garman stated that “nine out of 10” employees he spoke with supported the new RTO policy.
“If there are people who just don’t work well in that environment and don’t want to, that’s okay, there are other companies around,” he said.
“By the way, I don’t mean that in a bad way,” Garman added. “We want to be in an environment where we’re working together.”
Some employees who had not adhered to the company’s RTO policy in the past were informed by Amazon that they were “voluntarily resigning” before having their access to company systems revoked, Reuters has reported.
The following was originally published September 18, 2024:
Amazon is now the latest major company to announce a return-to-office mandate, as employees were notified at the beginning of this week that they will be expected to be in the office 5 days a week beginning January 2, 2025. Employees have been required to show their faces in person since May of last year, but a memo sent around the company by CEO Andy Jassy says that things will be going back to the way they were pre-pandemic.
“..We’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID,” writes Jassy. “When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant…in summary, we’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and, teams tend to be better connected to one another. If anything, the last 15 months we’ve been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits.”
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Jassy states that that concessions will be given for events like emergencies or sick children, but that working remotely twice a week will not be a given.
