Amazon is set to end its hybrid work model, requiring employees to return to the office five days a week starting in January, announced by CEO Andy Jassy in a memo. The shift will mark the end of a flexible policy that allowed corporate staff to work from home two days a week since the pandemic.
“We’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of Covid,” said Jassy, emphasizing that office-based work would better support collaboration, innovation, and connection among staff.
Jassy, who has been vocal about his skepticism toward remote work, noted concerns about Amazon’s corporate culture being diluted due to flexible work arrangements. He warned that the tech giant, which has grown from a start-up to a global powerhouse, was becoming bogged down by too many bureaucratic layers.
The decision has stirred tension within the company, which employs over 1.5 million people worldwide. Staff at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters staged a protest last year when the firm began tightening remote work policies initially implemented during the pandemic. Amazon later fired the protest organizer, a move that sparked accusations of retaliation and led to a formal dispute with labor authorities.
In his Monday memo, Jassy also introduced a “bureaucracy mailbox” for employees to voice concerns about unnecessary rules and regulations. He further announced that Amazon was encouraging managers to restructure teams, increasing the number of employees under each manager’s oversight. These changes, Jassy indicated, could lead to potential job cuts.
Jassy took over as CEO in 2021, succeeding Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
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