Amazon has asked their employees to return to the office for at least three days a week, according to a memo CEO Andy Jassy sent to employees Friday.
The policy would take effect May 1 and roll back a previous policy set in Oct. 2021, which allowed managers to set requirements at their discretion. All Seattle-, Virginia- and Nashville-based employees will be required to return to the office, the memo explains.
Jassy argues because Amazon hired so many people in 2021, it is crucial that employees return to the office and work with one another. “It’s 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 wrote in the memo.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 30: Andrew Ross Sorkin speaks with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy during the New York Times DealBook Summit in the Appel Room at the Jazz At Lincoln Center on November 30, 2022 in New York City. The New York Times held its first in person DealBook Summit since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic with speakers from the worlds of financial services, technology, consumer goods, private investment, venture capital, banking, media, public relations, policy, government, and academia. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Departments such as sales and customer support will be exempt from this policy change, but these exceptions “will be a small minority,” Jassy wrote. (RELATED:Amazon To Lobby US Government For Weed Legalization)
Amazon’s workforce of 1.6 million employees is second only to Walmart Inc.’s, at 2.3 million. In mandating a return to the office, Amazon joins the ranks of other tech companies like Google parent Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft in imposing a minimum number of in-person days. Alphabet started to require attendance in the office at least three days a week in April 2022. Apple also implemented a new policy in May 2022 requiring three days a week after easing employees back in with one day a week and then two days a week. Apple employees launched the #Appletoo movement to protest the decision.
The leader of the #Appletoo group, Janneke Parrish, was eventually fired from Apple and faced litigation for leaking company secrets to the press. An #Appletoo web page accuses the company of “persistent patterns of racism, sexism, inequity, discrimination, intimidation, suppression, coercion, abuse, unfair punishment, and unchecked privilege.”
Amazon declined the Daily Caller’s request for further comment.