Amazon orders workers to return to the office five days a week

Amazon wants to group its firm timepiece backmost to earlier nan pandemic. After 4 years of labor pinch nan online retailer moving from home, CEO Andrew Jassy said connected Monday he wants each workers backmost successful nan agency 5 days a week.

To foster a civilization of collaboration, "we've decided that we're going to return to being successful nan agency nan measurement we were earlier nan onset of COVID," Jassy said successful a memo to employees posted on Amazon's website. "When we look backmost complete nan past 5 years, we proceed to judge that nan advantages of being together successful nan agency are significant."

Jassy besides said teams usability amended erstwhile group activity together successful person, while nan company's firm civilization is strengthened. The caller instruction goes into effect Jan. 2, 2025. 

In February 2023, Amazon asked each labor to travel backmost to nan agency for 3 mandatory days, resulting successful immoderate protests from workers.

Jassy acknowledged that earlier nan pandemic, erstwhile full-time in-office activity was nan norm, distant activity exceptions were made for labor who had extenuating circumstances. Such leniency will continue.

"If you aliases your kid were sick, if you had immoderate benignant of location emergency, if you were connected nan roadworthy seeing customers aliases partners, if you needed a time aliases 2 to decorativeness coding successful a much isolated environment, group worked remotely," he wrote successful nan memo. 

Some labour experts person said that enterprises abolishing distant activity could lead to worker churn, noting that since nan pandemic galore labor person travel to dangle connected nan elasticity afforded by moving from location astatine slightest portion of nan time. On LinkedIn, meanwhile, economical historiographer Dror Poleg speculated that Amazon's caller argumentation is designed to thrust immoderate labor to time off nan company. .

"Companies are utilizing return-to-office mandates erstwhile they want to trim headcount," he said. "So nan easiest measurement to occurrence labor is to unit them backmost to nan office."

At slightest immoderate Amazon workers look dismayed by nan summons to return to nan office, expressing unhappiness successful an soul messaging channel, according to nan New York Times. "The full business is conscionable very depressing and de-motivating to opportunity nan least," 1 connection read, nan newspaper reported. 

—The Associated Press contributed to this report.