Amazon Bets on Office-Based Work With Expansion in Major Cities (Sebastian Herrara, WSJ)
Amazon.com Inc. is expanding its physical offices in six U.S. cities and adding thousands of corporate jobs in those areas, an indication the tech giant is making long-term plans around office work even as other companies embrace lasting remote employment. “The ability to connect with people, the ability for teams to work together in an ad hoc fashion—you can do it virtually, but it isn’t as spontaneous,” said Ardine Williams, vice president of workforce development at Amazon. “We are looking forward to returning to the office.” MORE@WSJ (gated)

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Amazon Sticks With Office Expansion Plans in New York and Elsewhere (Karen Weise and Matthew Haag, The New York Times)
The tech giant said on Tuesday that it would hire 3,500 white-collar employees across the country, including 2,000 in New York, following through on plans it had largely put in place before the coronavirus made office towers empty as employees work from home.
The new Amazon jobs will fill a lot of office space that the company acquired before Covid-19 took hold in the United States. In early March, Amazon bought the iconic Lord & Taylor building on Fifth Avenue from the co-working company WeWork, which was retrenching after unsustainable expansion. The New York Post reported at the time that Amazon had paid $1.15 billion for the property. Amazon declined to comment on the deal.
Amazon expects employees to occupy the space in 2023.The company also plans to expand offices in The company also plans to expand offices in its hubs in Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Phoenix and San Diego within two years. It signed a lease for roughly 90,000 square feet near Phoenix in the first quarter…MORE@NYT (gated)

Amazon is investing $1.4 billion to expand into 6 cities outside of Seattle, and it may be a sign that tech companies are reconsidering the future of the office (Avery Hartmans, Business Insider)
For Amazon, the future of office work, post-coronavirus, means thousands of new jobs and office hubs in six cities across the US. The ecommerce giant announced Tuesday that it’s planning to add 3,500 workers and will expand its offices in six US “tech hubs” — Dallas, Detroit, Denver, New York, Phoenix, and San Diego. MORE@Business Insider

Cynthia Wisehart