Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

10,160 Views | 136 Replies | Last: 3 hrs ago by Logos Stick
infinity ag
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During the pandemic, they said 100% WFH and that it made no difference to operations and everything was good.
Now 4-5 years after the pandemic, the same leaders claim they RTO increases productivity and collaboration.

In other words CEOs say whatever they want because they have the power and no one can stop them.

Looks like some politician called and threatened them that they were losing on tax revenues.

Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/16/amazon-jassy-tells-employees-to-return-to-office-five-days-a-week.html

Quote:

  • Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is instructing corporate staffers to work out of the office five days a week.
  • Previously, Amazon required employees to be in the office at least three days a week.
  • Amazon is also flattening its corporate structure by having fewer managers in each organization.


Quote:

Amazon is instructing corporate staffers to spend five days a week in theoffice, CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a memo on Monday.
The decision marks a significant shift from Amazon's earlier return-to-work stance, which required corporate workers to be in the office at least three days a week. Now, the company is giving employees until Jan. 2 to start adhering to the new policy.

Corporate employees will be expected to be in the office five days a week "outside of extenuating circumstances" or unless they have been granted an exception by their organization's S-team leader, Jassy said, referring to the close-knit group of executives that report to Amazon's CEO.
"Before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances," Jassy said.
pagerman @ work
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AG
Quote:

"Before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances, because our managers don't feel important unless they can see the people they are better than." Jassy said.
FIFH
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. It's inherent virtue is the equal sharing of miseries." - Winston Churchill
Sims
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AG
Quote:

In other words CEOs say whatever they want to get employees to leave voluntarily rather than announce additional layoffs.
FIFY

During the pandemic, it was an employees market. Now it's an employers market.
Tex117
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AG
A recession is going to hit one day. And its going to stamp out WFH in all but a handful of places.

C@LAg
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Good Amazon.

productivity has taken a HUGE hit across most divisions of Amazon here. it is ridiculous.

and the entitled little twunts do not answer their messengers in a timely manner meaning they are not even at their laptops.
CDUB98
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AG
I don't like this policy trend of returning 5 days, or 4 if you're 4-10 like me.

I started a new job last month and the drive both ways is a beat down, especially the evening. Having one day a week to not have to make that drive is awesome.
No Spin Ag
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Private companies doing whatever they want. Good for Amazon.
There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the later ignorance. Hippocrates
Logos Stick
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Looks like they will be losing major talent.
Maroon Dawn
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AG
Oh no!

The E-mail class will now have to REALLY pretend to work after sending the two e-mails a day that their "job" demands of them instead of sending two e-mails and then putting their mouse on a random click program and doing whatever they wanted while "working" from home!

The Essentials weep for you and your loss
Aggie95
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AG
I think there is a good debate/study to be made on how WFH impacts the overall economy in an area...who benefits and who loses.

WFH in the long run certainly hurts those tied to commercial real estate (brokers, construction companies, local restaurants, furniture companies, janitorial services, etc...pretty long list

long-term WFH could have positive benefits on employee morale, cost reduction for company, increased productivity (among certain employees)

I can understand the anxiety of city and state officials losing tax revenue if commercial real estate continues to empty. I suspect there is a decent amount of pressure being applied by politicians to go back to "the way things used to be".
C@LAg
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Logos Stick said:

Looks like they will be losing major talent.
not really. their options are Microsoft (who is also increasing in office days as well as doing layoffs from various divisions) or Boeing (also doing mid-level and tech layoffs) or moving to the Bay area where, surprise... they are also doing layoffs AND it is more expensive.


companies are starting their belt tightening across the board. it is not the employees who are in charge any more.
Ag87H2O
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AG
Lol at all those folks that said I'll quit before I go back to working in the office. Given the push back by employers against WFO and working realities of the Biden/Harris economy, their choices are becoming a lot more limited.

Amazon and any other company has every right to mandate working from the office if they believe it's in the companies best interest to do so.

Psycho Bunny
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Keep the nonessentials at home. My drive into downtown was cut in half during the pandemic.
I want to see chaos in America. My vote will be for Harris.
CDUB98
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AG
Logos Stick said:

Looks like they will be losing major talent.
And what competitor are they going to go to?
Commander Gorn
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Is returning to the office somehow a win for conservatives? I see it as only a win for commercial real estate employees and micromanagers. Take Google for example. The inside of their office is full of yoga rooms and all kinds of goofy non-productive stuff. I think most issues with these huge companies are due to bloat. Yes, Musk likes in-person employees, but I think him cutting a humongous percentage of useless employees (regardless of their location) at Twitter did much more for the company.
CDUB98
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AG
All that bloat is due to them being run by dirty, stinking hippies.

If those employees were forced to actually work for their paycheck Lincoln Electric style, they'd all starve.
C@LAg
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Commander Gorn said:

Is returning to the office somehow a win for conservatives? I see it as only a win for commercial real estate employees and micromanagers. Take Google for example. The inside of their office is full of yoga rooms and all kinds of goofy non-productive stuff. I think most issues with these huge companies are due to bloat. Yes, Musk likes in-person employees, but I think him cutting a humongous percentage of useless employees (regardless of their location) at Twitter did much more for the company.
it is cute you trying to frame it as "muh conservatives" when the majority of these tech companies are highly liberal (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, etc).
bmks270
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CDUB98 said:

Logos Stick said:

Looks like they will be losing major talent.
And what competitor are they going to go to?


Ones that want work from home will be looking, and maybe jump ship when they find something. But a lot may not find more WFH.

frenchtoast
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This is probably not great news for the fine folks at r/overemployed.
Sid Farkas
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AG
WFH or gtfo.
BTKAG97
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Logos Stick said:

Looks like they will be losing major talent.
JOb openings for those of us who want to work.
Sims
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Sid Farkas said:

WFH or gtfo.
We actually let all of our employees work from home but the lack of overhead crane capacity has been apparent.

Pretty much all of them have returned to the office.
MouthBQ98
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It's a soft layoff/downsizing.

They're trying to get people to quit due to the increased personal costs and hassle of going back to 5 days a week in the office because that typically is a voluntary separation where a contract severance is not paid. It's cheaper than laying them off.

Also, often those with the weaker work ethic or poorer motivation self select to leave the company with this strategy.

That's all it is. Anything else they say is a comfortable lie.
93MarineHorn
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C@LAg said:

Commander Gorn said:

Is returning to the office somehow a win for conservatives? I see it as only a win for commercial real estate employees and micromanagers. Take Google for example. The inside of their office is full of yoga rooms and all kinds of goofy non-productive stuff. I think most issues with these huge companies are due to bloat. Yes, Musk likes in-person employees, but I think him cutting a humongous percentage of useless employees (regardless of their location) at Twitter did much more for the company.
it is cute you trying to frame it as "muh conservatives" when the majority of these tech companies are highly liberal (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, etc).
This isn't a conservative v. liberal issue. It's more of an Olds v Youths issue.
Gig em G
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C@LAg said:

Good Amazon.

productivity has taken a HUGE hit across most divisions of Amazon here. it is ridiculous.

and the entitled little twunts do not answer their messengers in a timely manner meaning they are not even at their laptops.


Speak for yourself. I've been far more productive as a WFH/remote employee than ever, partly because I want to set an example that it can be done well.

I hate commuting. I hate traffic. I hate being mandated to sit at a desk in an office environment that I have zero interest in. I love working from my home office, and having the ability to visit family for extended periods without having to take time off. I took less PTO and sick leave because of this.

Return to office blows hard in my opinion. The only people I saw pushing to go back were middle manager types that were twiddling their thumbs looking for something to do, since everyone was working just fine without them or their "pull up meetings"
MouthBQ98
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AG
We're 3/5 and it works pretty well. I'd hate to go back to 5 because it costs me 5 more hours of my week spent driving, with elevated risk to self in traffic, spending my money on gas and tolls. Time I could put to better use. It literally would be a compensation cut on a total hours dedicated to serving work basis, from my standpoint.

I'd do it, but I sure as hell wouldn't like it and it would factor into my future decisions in relation to the business.
BTKAG97
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Gig em G said:

C@LAg said:

Good Amazon.

productivity has taken a HUGE hit across most divisions of Amazon here. it is ridiculous.

and the entitled little twunts do not answer their messengers in a timely manner meaning they are not even at their laptops.


Speak for yourself. I've been far more productive as a WFH/remote employee than ever, partly because I want to set an example that it can be done well.

Great job unicorn!
Gig em G
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Athanasius
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My business will just poach their talent.
eric76
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C@LAg said:

Good Amazon.

productivity has taken a HUGE hit across most divisions of Amazon here. it is ridiculous.

and the entitled little twunts do not answer their messengers in a timely manner meaning they are not even at their laptops.
I can't even imagine trying to schedule regular meetings with a bunch of colleagues whenever they are spread out all over the place, possibly not even in the country.

It would seem to be a whole lot easier if all they had to do was walk down the hall to the conference room.

ef857002-e9da-4375-b80a-869a3518bb00@8shield.net
eric76
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Psycho Bunny said:

Keep the nonessentials at home. My drive into downtown was cut in half during the pandemic.
You do have a point there.
ef857002-e9da-4375-b80a-869a3518bb00@8shield.net
C@LAg
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eric76 said:


I can't even imagine trying to schedule regular meetings with a bunch of colleagues whenever they are spread out all over the place, possibly not even in the country.

It would seem to be a whole lot easier if all they had to do was walk down the hall to the conference room.


as a consultant, I still get paid whether the idiots show up for meetings (in person or online) or do not give me information in a timely manner, so it is all good for me either way.

i am just stating a fact that productivity overall is measurably down across the board in pretty much every division at amazon, and the number one driver for that easily is WFH, followed closely by over-hiring/redundancy in many positions.

and this is direct from the 20+ former coworkers from my time at KPMG and E&Y Seattle who are now middle and senior mgmt and have access to these metrics.

The good thing is that unless you are key to some AWS and Prime Video groups, as well as Amazon's AI initiatives, you are pretty much considered easily replaceable and there is a never-ending line line of people wanting to get in the door.
agwrestler
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Psycho Bunny said:

Keep the nonessentials at home. My drive into downtown was cut in half during the pandemic.


Ditto.
Stop forcing the unproductive back to work. Their driving sucks!!
jickyjack1
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Logos Stick said:

Looks like they will be losing major talent.

Maybe they'll compensate by hiring people who want to work.
jickyjack1
infinity ag
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I can guess the age group of the posters here reading how passionate they are about RTO based on what they have done all their careers. People are resistant to change (we all are) so the ones who spent 30 years working from an office would find working through a computer screen to be very scary and unproductive.

My career is over 20 years and my last job was 100% remote and was my best ever position. I thoroughly enjoyed it, launched some cool new products and I never met anyone in the company in person. I made some good friends whom I still talk to.

It is just a demand and supply situation. Right now jobs are few and too many people chasing them so employers have the upper hand so they make demands. They can make even dumb demands and justify with even dumber reasons and no one can do anything. Wait till things turn and they need people, the same CEOs will start opening things up saying they are getting cost savings from lower real estate footprint and lick everyone's front and back to join their company.

Once you learn the law of "supply and demand" and "leverage", then it all makes sense and you can use it to your benefit. When it becomes an employee's market, demand a high salary and title and you have a much higher chance of getting it. Do not feel sorry for a company or make the mistake of thinking you are part of a family. Use and throw. Be ruthless in your own self-interest.

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