Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said during an all-hands meeting Tuesday that plans to require employees to come to work five days a week will not force layoffs or force layoffs, as many employees have suggested. He said it was not intended to satisfy city leaders.
controversial plan Requiring employees to come to Amazon's offices every day, up from the current three days, starting next year is stricter than at other tech companies and has sparked upset among workers who say commute times hamper efficiency. is expanding.
Workers who consistently fail to comply are said to be “voluntarily resigning” and are locked out of company computers.
“The reason I've been doing this is because I'm backdoor fired or because I'm doing some sort of deal with multiple cities,” Jassy said, according to a recording of the meeting seen by Reuters. A lot of people I've seen theorize about.” .
“I can tell you that neither is true. You know, this was not a cost play for us. This is very much about our culture and strengthening our culture.” he said.
An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.
Last month, Matt Garman, CEO of cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services, suggested that employees who don't want to fully comply with in-office requirements could leave for another company. He said nine out of 10 employees he spoke to supported the change.
In response, a letter signed by more than 500 Amazon employees said the company has successfully operated fully remotely and that the new rules would have a greater impact on employees with family or medical issues than other rules. The group signed a petition calling on Garman to revise the policy.
“I was appalled to hear your explanation for imposing a five-day in-house requirement on Amazon that was not based on data,” the letter said.
In response, Amazon said at the time that it was offering commuting benefits and parking subsidies to support the return-to-office policy.
“It’s an adjustment,” Jassy said Tuesday. “A lot of people understand that, and we're going to work together to make that adjustment.”
