Amazon is forcing its corporate employees to return to the office five days a week – and they’re not happy about it.
The return-to-office mandate is a sharp change from its current hybrid policy, which requires employees to work from the office at least three days a week.
“So if I go in 5x week, that means I can leave my laptop at work right?
Not all Amazon employees were swayed.
It’s just going backwards.” The Slack channel was “burning” with frustrated comments and reactions after Jassy’s announcement on Monday, an Amazon employee told BI.
“Can I negotiate my manager to PIP me,” one Amazon employee wrote, referring to the company’s harsh performance improvement plan that employees have called a prerequisite to being fired.
“Take my money and leave?” “What ever happened to ‘Striving to be Earth’s Best Employer,” another employee wrote on Slack, nodding to one of Amazon’s leadership principles.
After the pandemic, the company required employees to return to the office three days a week.
And this new mandate has only reheated employees’ frustrations against the company – and its CEO in particular.
“It’s day 1169,” one employee wrote on Monday, referring to the number of days since Jassy took over as CEO.
They are not happy that Amazon is making its corporate staff come in to work five days a week.
After CEO Andy Jassy, who assumed leadership in 2021, stated in a note on Monday that staff members must resume full-time in-office work by January, employees took to Slack to voice their complaints.
Compared to its current hybrid policy, which mandates that workers work from the office three days a week, the return-to-office mandate represents a significant shift.
Given Amazon’s rigorous work culture, one employee yelled in an internal Slack channel that Business Insider saw, “So if I go in 5x week, that means I can leave my laptop at work right? There’s no reason to bring it home.”.
The five-day-a-week rule is a component of an initiative to promote teamwork that was evident before the pandemic, according to Jassy. This will make it simpler for coworkers to “learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture.”.
According to Jassy, the new mandate will function similarly to the majority of workplaces before the pandemic. Employees with extraordinary circumstances, such as a sick child at home, an emergency at home, or time spent traveling to meet with partners or clients, will be “understood.”.
Not every employee at Amazon was convinced.
According to BI, an employee posted on Slack, “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.”. “We are not ‘going back’ to the previous state of affairs. It’s merely regressing. “.
An Amazon employee told BI that following Jassy’s announcement on Monday, the Slack channel was “burning” with angry remarks and reactions.
One Amazon employee wrote, “Can I negotiate my manager to PIP me?” in reference to the company’s strict performance improvement program, which workers have claimed is a requirement for termination.
“Please take my money and go.”.
Another worker on Slack remarked, alluding to one of Amazon’s guiding principles, “Whatever happened to ‘Striving to be Earth’s Best Employer”?
In the past, staff members denounced the idea as a “marketing ploy.”. “.
For years, Amazon has been known as a difficult place to work in the tech sector due to rumors of long hours, unreasonable expectations, and internal rivalry.
The business mandated that workers report back to work three days a week following the pandemic.
When that policy took effect in May 2023, workers staged a walkout.
Employee resentment of the business, and its CEO in particular, has only grown as a result of this new mandate.
One worker wrote on Monday, “It’s day 1169,” referring to the amount of days that have passed since Jassy assumed the role of CEO.
