NEW YORK — Amazon employees have been expressing their concerns about the company’s return-to-office policy, and CEO Andy Jassy has addressed the issue during a recent internal Q&A session.
Jassy emphasized the importance of “disagreeing and committing” with the policy, which requires corporate employees to work in the office three days a week. This phrase is one of Amazon’s leadership principles, frequently used by its founder and current executive chairman, Jeff Bezos.
Jassy stated, “If you can’t disagree and commit, it’s probably not going to work out for you at Amazon.” He also highlighted the inconsistency of having some employees in the office while others refuse to do so.
Business Insider initially reported Jassy’s comments, which were later shared by Amazon.
The current office attendance mandate, implemented in May, represents a shift from Amazon’s previous policy that allowed team leaders to decide remote work arrangements. Amazon clarified that the prior policy was not intended to be the norm and referred to a blog post by Jassy in 2021, where he mentioned the company’s willingness to make adjustments based on new information.
When announcing the updated policy, Jassy explained that it was influenced by the company’s observations during the pandemic and conversations with leaders from other companies. He stated that in-person work tends to foster greater engagement and collaboration among employees.
However, many Amazon workers remain unconvinced. In May, hundreds of employees protested the new policy at the company’s Seattle headquarters. Additionally, an internal Slack channel advocating for remote work had amassed 33,000 members at the time.
Some employees have also requested data to support Jassy’s claims. During the Q&A session, Jassy mentioned that the company’s leadership examined available data and found that meetings were less effective when conducted remotely compared to in-person. He acknowledged that Amazon has made significant decisions in the past without perfect data, citing examples such as the creation of its online marketplace for sellers and its cloud computing unit, AWS.
In July, Amazon implemented a policy requiring certain employees in smaller offices to relocate to larger cities where main offices are located, according to multiple media reports.
Amazon employs 1.4 million people worldwide, but it does not disclose the number of employees working in office settings versus those in warehouses and other locations.