Amazon asks staff to return to office five days a week and people are PISSED

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Amazon has announced a return-to-office mandate for staff, and people aren’t happy.

Andy Jassy, CEO of the tech giant, revealed the plans in a message to employees titled “Strengthening our culture and teams.”

“We’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID,” he wrote. “When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant.”

According to the Amazon executive, the company has observed that it’s easier for team members to collaborate, brainstorm, teach, and learn from one another in person. He added that the last 15 months they’ve been back in the office three days a week have further proved those benefits.

For those reasons, employees must return to the office five days a week starting next year. Though the note alludes to this being a global mandate, Daily Hive has contacted Amazon to confirm whether it applies to employees in Canada.

“Our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances or if you already have a Remote Work Exception approved through your s-team leader,” wrote Jassy.

The CEO gave examples of extenuating circumstances, such as working remotely because you or your child are sick, you have a house emergency, you’re on the road seeing customers or partners, or you need a day or two to finish coding in a quieter environment.

In terms of how Amazon plans to accommodate the influx of workers coming back into the office, Jassy says they’ll bring back assigned seating in locations that were previously organized that way. This includes US headquarters in Puget Sound, Washington, and Arlington, Virginia.

“For locations that had agile desk arrangements before the pandemic, including much of Europe, we will continue to operate that way,” explained Jassy.

The executive acknowledged that some staff may have set up their personal lives so that returning to the office for a full workweek will require some adjustments.

“To help ensure a smooth transition, we’re going to make this new expectation active on January 2, 2025,” he wrote. “Global Real Estate and Facilities (GREF) is working on a plan to accommodate desk arrangements mentioned above and will communicate the details as they are finalized.”

Jassy ended the message by reiterating the importance of the company’s culture.

“I’m optimistic that these changes will better help us accomplish these goals while strengthening our culture and the effectiveness of our teams,” he wrote.

Many online seemed to welcome this move.

But arguably more were pissed off.

Many responded to the news in classic internet fashion — sarcasm and memes.

One person pointed out how Amazon warehouse workers who didn’t have the option for remote work must feel.

There are speculations that this could be a foreshadowing of more layoffs. Besides the return-to-office mandate, Jassy also mentioned wanting fewer managers and alluded to “removing layers.”

“So, we’re asking each s-team organization to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% by the end of Q1 2025,” he wrote. “Having fewer managers will remove layers and flatten organizations more than they are today.”

Are you an Amazon employee? What do you think about this decision? Email us at [email protected] to share your thoughts. Confidentiality can be accommodated.

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