Amazon has become the latest company to put its foot down on remote work, with an announcement that it expects its staff to come back to the office for a mandatory three days a week.
Despite the huge increase in remote work since the pandemic, in the last few months, we have seen many companies renege on their promise to let staff work from home, including Disney, Tesla and Activision.
The news is unlikely to be welcomed by Amazon staff, who have just been through a period of mass layoffs.
The call to return to the office came from Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, who posted a message on the official company blog, declaring that staff must now attend physical Amazon premises at least three times a week.
In the blog post, Jassy mentions the benefits he sees in returning to the office, including better collaboration opportunities, teams being better connected when working face-to-face, and it being easier to learn in person.
In the post, Jassy does acknowledge that the transition back to the office won’t be perfect and that there will be a period of adjustment. The return to office date has been set as the 1st of May.
Some roles that were already fully remote before the pandemic, such as customer support and sales, have been confirmed to stay this way, although Amazon states that it expects these positions to be a very small minority.
“I know that for some employees, adjusting again to a new way of working will take some time. But I’m very optimistic about the positive impact this will have in how we serve and invent on behalf of customers, as well as on the growth and success of our employees.” – Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy
