TLDR:
- 73% of Amazon employees surveyed are considering quitting due to new 5-day in-office mandate
- Policy requires corporate workers to be in office full-time starting January 2025
- 80% of surveyed employees know colleagues also considering leaving
- Internal surveys show strong dissatisfaction with the policy change
- Experts suggest strict office policies may be a way to encourage resignations
Amazon, the e-commerce giant, is facing significant pushback from its employees following CEO Andy Jassy’s announcement of a new policy requiring full-time return to office. The mandate, set to begin in January 2025, has sparked a wave of discontent among the company’s workforce, with many considering leaving their jobs.
A recent survey conducted on Blind, an anonymous job review site, revealed that 73% of the 2,585 Amazon employees polled are considering looking for new jobs due to the full-time return-to-office policy.
The survey also found that 80% of respondents know colleagues who are thinking about leaving because of the announcement.
The new policy requires corporate workers to report to offices five days a week, up from the current three-day requirement. This change has reportedly affected employee morale, with concerns particularly high among parents and caregivers who benefit from remote and hybrid work arrangements.
Another survey from Glassdoor echoed these findings, indicating that 74% of Amazon workers are “rethinking” their career futures, either within the company or elsewhere.
Some experts suggest that strict office attendance policies may be a strategy to encourage resignations, potentially avoiding the costs associated with layoffs.
Despite the widespread dissatisfaction, many Amazon employees are hoping that leadership will reconsider the policy.
An anonymous internal survey, reportedly shared on company Slack channels including a “remote advocacy” group with over 30,000 members, aims to provide feedback to Jassy and other leaders about the impact of this policy on employees.
The creators of this internal survey intend to aggregate and share the findings with leadership, hoping to offer clear insights into the challenges identified and proposed solutions. However, it’s worth noting that a similar effort in February 2023, when Amazon announced a three-day in-office requirement, was dismissed by leadership.
In his memo announcing the new five-day requirement, Jassy cited improvements observed during the company’s hybrid return. He stated that in-person work has made it easier for teams to learn, practice, and strengthen Amazon’s culture. Jassy also mentioned benefits in collaboration, brainstorming, inventing, teaching, and learning from one another.
The full-time return-to-office policy is part of a broader strategy by Amazon to streamline operations and reduce managerial layers. However, the policy has not been uniformly applied across Amazon’s subsidiaries. For instance, workers at Amazon’s One Medical subsidiary are only required to come to the office three times a week starting in October, a discrepancy that has fueled further dissatisfaction among Amazon’s broader workforce.
The return-to-office mandate has also faced external criticism. In the UK, the policy clashes with the government’s push for flexible working rights. The UK government argues that flexible working improves performance and employee loyalty, contrary to Amazon’s stance that in-office work fosters better collaboration and innovation.
The dissatisfaction with Amazon’s rigid return-to-office policy has already led to a significant increase in resignations, particularly within its cloud division. In December, Amazon Web Services (AWS) employees reportedly resigned in large numbers, citing the inflexible policy as a primary reason.
