Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has sparked a fierce backlash among employees after announcing they’ll now be required to spend five days a week in the office.
Jassy sent a memo to staff on Monday informing them of “a couple changes we’re making to further strengthen our culture and teams.”
Part of doing that, he said, is returning to working in the office full time, as was the norm before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Explaining the move, he said: “When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant.”
Staff have flocked to internal Slack channels to protest against the new rule, according to Business Insider, which said employees are “burning” with comments and reactions.
In reference to the multinational technology giant’s famous leadership principles, one person rhetorically asked: “What ever happened to ‘Striving to be Earth’s Best Employer.’”
“Please do note that this is (in a lot of cases) significantly more strict and out of its mind than many teams operated under pre-covid,” wrote another on Slack. “This is not ‘going back’ to how it was before. It’s just going backwards.”
Others have taken to social media to voice their grievances and concerns with the move.
“You mean to tell me you wouldn’t want to spend 5 days/week under fluorescent lighting and no sense of time?” sarcastically cracked one X user. “Some of you don’t want it bad enough.”
Another wrote: “Seriously Amazon! Soon as folks begin having a truly better work life balance, you decide you want folks back in the office 5 days a week. SMH…”
Others accused Amazon of making the change to avoid layoffs.
“Layoffs. Without payouts,” read one post.
“It’a cheaper/easier than doing another rd [round] of mass layoffs…” said another user.
The Independent has reached out to Amazon for comment.
The new rule, set to take effect on January 2, 2025, comes seven months after Jassy announced that it would be mandatory for corporate workers to work on-site at least three days a week.
He said in Monday’s memo that the “last 15 months we’ve been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits.”
Jassy did note that if employees are reasonably unable to make their way into work, such as having children who are unwell, then working from home remains as a backup option.
Amazon has made headlines for years with allegations of poor working conditions for employees, particularly those toiling in warehouses.
One worker at a site in India claimed that warehouse employees were allegedly asked to work continuously without breaks in order to meet their targets on May 16.
In Birmingham, UK, over 60 workers went on strike this year over pay and working conditions.