NEW YORK — Amazon employees have been expressing their concerns about the company’s return-to-office policy, and it appears that CEO Andy Jassy has reached a breaking point.
During a recent internal Q&A session, Jassy urged employees to “disagree and commit” with the policy, which requires corporate employees to be in the office three days a week.
The phrase “disagree and commit” is one of Amazon’s leadership principles, frequently used by the company’s founder and current executive chairman, Jeff Bezos.
Jassy emphasized that it was unfair for some employees to be in the office while others refuse to do so, stating, “If you can’t disagree and commit, it’s probably not going to work out for you at Amazon.”
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 granted leaders the authority to determine their teams’ work arrangements. However, the company clarified that the prior policy was not intended to be the norm and highlighted CEO Jassy’s statement in a 2021 blog post about adjusting things based on new information.
Jassy explained that the decision to update the policy was influenced by observing what worked during the pandemic and consulting with leaders from other companies. He noted that employees tend to be more engaged and collaborative when working in person.
Nevertheless, many Amazon workers remain unconvinced. In May, hundreds of employees protested the new policy at the company’s Seattle headquarters, and a Slack channel advocating for remote work gained 33,000 members.
Some employees have also requested data to support Jassy’s claims. In response, Jassy stated that the company’s leadership analyzed available data and found that meetings were not as effective when conducted remotely. He acknowledged that Amazon has made significant decisions in the past without perfect data, citing examples such as the creation of an online marketplace for sellers and the development of AWS, its cloud computing unit.
Furthermore, reports indicate that Amazon has implemented a policy requiring certain employees in smaller offices to relocate to larger cities where main offices are located.
Amazon employs 1.4 million people worldwide, but it does not disclose the number of employees working in office settings versus those working in warehouses and other sites.