Amazon to ask workers to return to office

Amazon has announced that it will be asking its staff to return to the office for at least three days per week, effective 1 May. 

In a letter to staff, CEO Andy Jassy said the decision was made at a s-team meeting last week.

He said that “for a number of reasons (including the adjustments I know will be required for some of our employees), I wanted to share with you as early as I could even though we haven’t worked out all the execution details yet”. 

According to Amazon, certain roles, including some sales and customer support roles, will be exceptions to the change, though this will be a small minority. 

The decision comes as Jassy said it was “easier to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture when we’re in the office together most of the time and surrounded by our colleagues”. 

He said: “When you’re in-person, people tend to be more engaged, observant, and attuned to what’s happening in the meetings and the cultural clues being communicated. 

“For those unsure about why something happened or somebody reacted a certain way, it’s easier to ask ad-hoc questions on the way to lunch, in the elevator, or the hallway; whereas when you’re at home, you’re less likely to do so.” 

He added: “It’s also easier for leaders to teach when they have more people in a room at one time, can better assess whether the team is digesting the information as intended; and if not, how they need to adjust their communication. 

“Of course, there will be plenty of meetings that will have significant virtual participation, but having more in-person interactions helps people absorb the culture better. Our culture has been one of the most critical parts of our success the first 27 years, and I expect it will be in our next 27+ years as well. Strengthening it further is a top priority for the s-team and me.”

He concluded: “It’s not simple to bring many thousands of employees back to our offices around the world, so we’re going to give the teams that need to do that work some time to develop a plan. 

“We know that it won’t be perfect at first, but the office experience will steadily improve over the coming months (and years) as our real estate and facilities teams smooth out the wrinkles, and ultimately keep evolving how we want our offices to be set up to capture the new ways we want to work.”