What just happened? Amazon is ending the pandemic-era remote and hybrid work arrangements that many of its corporate employees have become accustomed to over the past few years. In a memo this week, CEO Andy Jassy made it clear that starting in 2025, employees will be required to work in the office five days a week, unless they have an approved exception. Amazon cracks down on remote work, wants butts in office seats five days a week
The new stance marks a significant shift from earlier this year, when Amazon required corporate employees to come into the office at least three days a week. However, Jassy believes being together full-time makes “collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing” easier and more effective. He also emphasized that it helps employees better learn, practice, and strengthen Amazon’s “corporate culture” while staying connected as a team.
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“Our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances,” Jassy wrote, noting that employees could still work remotely for things like sick days, family emergencies, business travel or just needing “a day or two to finish coding in a more isolated environment.” However, the general expectation is regular attendance at the office.
The transition to pre-pandemic norms won’t happen immediately. Amazon is giving employees until January 2025 to begin adhering to the updated policy, acknowledging that some may need time to adjust.
In addition to the office mandate, Jassy revealed
that Amazon is also streamlining its corporate structure. The goal is to “remove layers and flatten organizations” by increasing the staff-to-manager ratio across teams by at least 15 percent by early 2025. He also called for the creation of a “bureaucracy mailbox” where employees can report excessive rules or processes.
It’s worth noting that Amazon rapidly expanded its workforce during the pandemic before Jassy took over as CEO in 2021. Since then, he has implemented significant cuts, including the largest layoffs in Amazon’s 27-year history, starting in 2022.
Jassy’s stance reflects a broader trend of companies bringing employees back to the office full-time. Last month, London-based hardware company Nothing stated that remote work is “not compatible with a high ambition level plus high speed,” demanding that employees return to the office five days a week or leave the company.Amazon cracks down on remote work, wants butts in office seats five days a week
Whether the shift will result in higher productivity remains to be seen. Research on the effects of working from home versus working from the office has been mixed.
A study from August 2023 found that productivity among remote workers declined by 18 percent, while a survey from the same period showed that a majority of employees felt more productive working from home.
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