Amazon Restores Full Office Work System, Puts an End to Remote Work
Amazon has told its employees they will have to return to the office five days a week starting early next year, in one of the most aggressive moves toward remote work that has become common since the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have decided to return to the office as it was before COVID,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to employees worldwide. “We’ve noticed that it’s easier for our colleagues to learn, engage, and live and reinforce our culture; and collaboration, brainstorming, and innovation are simpler and more effective.”
Jassy explained that working remotely two days a week was not mandated before the pandemic and will not be mandated in the future. He added that exceptions will be made for employees with sick children, family emergencies or software projects that require a more isolated environment.
Amazon has indicated that it will end the “coworking” system and return to dedicated office layouts in its buildings in the United States, although this system will continue in Europe.
The company's employees were estimated at about 1.5 million full- and part-time employees at the end of 2023, the vast majority of whom work in warehouses or as delivery drivers, but the company has hundreds of thousands of employees working in offices.
Amazon is a leader in the return-to-office push, making it an exception among other tech companies that still offer more flexible working conditions. Google requires its employees to come into the office three times a week, while many startups are still relying entirely on remote work.
In May of last year, Amazon introduced a general policy requiring employees to come to work three days a week, and has followed up on the policy strictly by monitoring employees’ entry and exit times, and repeatedly warning violators.
“The benefits of being in the office are huge,” Jassy said, adding that the past 15 months have reinforced the company’s belief in those benefits.
Other changes the company announced include the creation of a “bureaucracy box” for employees to report “unnecessary procedures or rules that should be eliminated,” and a reduction in the number of middle managers with the aim of increasing the ratio of “individual shareholders” to managers by 15% by the end of the first quarter of next year.