Amazon has formally announced a new policy that requires employees to work from the office at least three days a week. The new policy will come into effect starting from May 1. After nearly three years of testing with several models of entirely remote work and a hybrid system of in-person and remote work, CEO Andy Jassy told staff of the decision on Friday. While some employees would be happy to be back at work, others may be worried about the effects of this new policy.
Amazon is a wide spread company, so the employees have to travel or work at far-fetched locations. Some employees believe that the company should maintain flexibility due to worries about the health dangers of COVID-19, commuting times and the viability of in-office communication.
A current employee working for Amazon, on the condition to keep his identity private, said that the company is shooting itself in the foot. This worker works at Amazon Web Services, the business’ cloud computing subsidiary, in Seattle.
Following an all-staff meeting, Amazon informed its employees about the decision via email that they would be required to report back to the office. Jassy underlined the value of in-person collaboration for the profitability and culture of the company despite these reservations.
In his statement, Andy stated that “our culture has been one of the most essential segments of our success the first 27 years, and I think it will be in our future 27+ years as well. The leadership team and I set a strong focus on further strengthening it.”
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The statement marks a change from Amazon’s prior policy, which gave executives the authority to pick where their staff will work. Only Amazon’s corporate employees were subject to that regulation; warehouse employees were not given the choice to work remotely.
Not many businesses are using the same strategy for remote employment as Amazon. At least 50% of all work at Microsoft must now be completed in person unless employees get permission from their supervisors to work remotely. Employees at Starbucks who could commute to the company’s Seattle headquarters were also obliged to work from the office at least three days a week as of the end of January.
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According to Jon Scholes, president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association, Amazon’s step to have employees return to the office is “music to the ears of local businesses and arts groups.” We have the chance to exploit this wonderful development to launch a flywheel campaign and draw additional workers to the downtown area.
The Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce is urging Mayor Bruce Harrell and the City Council to address public safety issues and create a retail plan for downtown as more people return to the workplace. “We are urging all employers to be deliberate and attentive when deciding whether to resume business as usual, and to ask: What do you truly need as an employer, what do your staff need, what do your customers need, and what does your community need?”, President and CEO of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Rachel Smith, stated.
According to Jassy’s message to the staff, the specifics of Amazon’s new policy are still being worked out. He did, however, wish to inform the staff as soon as possible. The return-to-office assumption will have some exceptions, but “that will be a tiny minority,” according to Jassy.
The new policy may disappoint some employees, but the resumption of in-person collaboration may delight others. It will be intriguing to observe how Amazon’s decision impacts the company’s culture and prosperity in the years to come, regardless of how the decision affects the company’s employees.
