Amazon workers appalled by ‘5-day in-office return’ imposition, write to CEO of AWS
“We were appalled to hear the non-data-driven explanation you gave for Amazon imposing a five-day in-office mandate,” they wrote in a letter to the CEO.
This comes nearly two weeks after Garman told employees in an all-hands-on-deck meeting that if they don’t agree with its new five-day in-office mandate, they could leave for another company. He had stated that the policy would become effective early next year.
In the meeting on October 17, Garman stated that nine out of 10 workers he had spoken with supported the return-to-office policy. However, as per a CNBC report citing a person familiar with the development, about 37,000 staffers have joined an internal Slack channel that was created last year to advocate for remote work and share grievances about the return-to-work mandate.
The employees’ letter to the CEO, accessed by Reuters, points out that the CEO’s comments are “inconsistent with the experiences of many employees” and are “misrepresenting the realities of working at Amazon.”
According to Garman, the current three-day-per-week policy is making collaboration difficult as people may be in offices on different days.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced the company-wide policy in September of this year.
Internally, several employees have called the policy wasteful, given the added time and expense required for commuting or living close to the office. A few have said they plan to quit the company, as reports.
Amazon has enforced the policy by asking many workers to go to regional offices, move to Seattle or “voluntarily resign.”
The latest letter by employees on the policy mandate states that the AWS CEO’s letter shows no reflection of data. The move also “break(s) the trust of your employees who have not only personal experience that shows the benefits of remote work, but have seen the extensive data which supports that experience,” they said.
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Citing the issues with a five-day return to office, the staffers say it particularly adversely impacts those with neurodiversity or childcare responsibilities. Employees also said that the mandate “does not uphold Amazon’s espoused “Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer” leadership principle.”
The Reuters report also pointed to anonymous stories from a dozen Amazon workers, attached to the letter, who said complying with a five-day in-office policy would be difficult or impossible due to, among other things, family obligations, commuting times or medical necessities.
These developments come against the backdrop of Amazon taking a stricter approach to return to office alongside many other tech peers who have adopted the hybrid model.
However, Garman believes “we didn’t really accomplish anything” under the three-day policy, and, therefore, a full return to office would help workers “invent, collaborate and be connected.”
