– The change will go into effect in January, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a memo to employees.
– We have decided to return to the office we were in before the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, adding that this will help employees better prepare for their tasks.
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The End of Remote Work at Amazon
Jassy has long been known to be skeptical of remote work, but Amazon employees have previously been able to work from home two days a week.
Amazon’s push to get corporate workers back in offices has become a source of tension at the company, which employs more than 1.5 million full- and part-time workers worldwide.
Workers at its Seattle headquarters staged a protest last year after the company cut the full telework allowance introduced during the pandemic.
Amazon subsequently fired the organizer of the protest, which led to a dispute with labor authorities.
Amazon Wants Corporate Culture to Return
In his message, Jassy expressed concern that Amazon — which has long prided itself on maintaining the intensity of a startup while growing like a tech giant — is seeing its corporate culture eroded by flexible work and too much bureaucracy.
Jassy, who replaced founder Jeff Bezos as CEO in 2021, said he has created a “bureaucratic mailbox” where employees can file complaints about unnecessary regulations. The company has also asked managers to reorganize and oversee workers more.
In addition to returning to the office five days a week, Amazon said it would end hot desking in the U.S., though it will continue in most of Europe.
The company has said that employees can continue to work from home in unusual circumstances, such as a child's illness or unforeseen events, as they did before the pandemic, but Jassy is blunt: "We expect people to work in the office."