The chief executive of e-commerce giant Amazon has told staff they must work in the office “the way we were before the onset of Covid”, with a five-days-a-week mandate from the start of next year.
In a message to staff titled “Strengthening our culture and teams”, chief executive Andy Jassy said the move would mean the company is “better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other and our culture to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business”.
“When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant,” Jassy said. “We have observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and, teams tend to be better connected to one another. If anything, the last 15 months we have been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits.”
Jassy said flexibility will still be shown to workers who are travelling, caring for unwell children, or “had some sort of house emergency”.
“But before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward,” he added. “Our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances… or if you already have a remote work exception approved through your [team leader].”
The company’s mandate will kick in from 2 January 2025. “We understand that some of our teammates may have set up their personal lives in such a way that returning to the office consistently five days per week will require some adjustments,” Jassy said.
Image © Yichuan Cao/Sipa USA/REX/Shutterstock
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