• by Tanya Gazdik , September 16, 2024

So long flex scheduling, at least for Amazon corporate employees.

Starting Jan. 2, they will have to return to the office five days a week, a change from the company's current pandemic-era hybrid policy that requires them to be in the office just three days a week.

CEO Andy Jassy made the announcement about the new policy Monday, writing that the change will help its thousands of employees “invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other and our culture to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business.”

“Although companies in certain sectors, particularly on Wall Street, have emphasized a full return, companies have largely let up on demanding that employees work five days a week in the office,” according to CNN Business. “Just 4% of US CEOs and 4% of CEOs worldwide at the beginning of the year said they will prioritize bringing workers back to the office full time, according to a CEO survey from The Conference Board.”

In February 2023, Amazon asked all employees to come back to the office for three mandatory days, resulting in some protests from workers.

“Jassy acknowledged that before the pandemic, when full-time in-office work was the norm, remote work exceptions were made for employees who had extenuating circumstances,” according to CBS News. “Such leniency will continue.”

The move marks the first of the Big Tech companies to require a full week in office post pandemic, notes The Washington Post. 

At least some Amazon workers seem dismayed by the summons to return to the office, expressing unhappiness in an internal messaging channel, according to The New York Times. "The whole situation is just very depressing and de-motivating to say the least," one message read, the newspaper reported.