Amazon employees push CEO Andy Jassy to drop return-to-office mandate

A radical of Amazon employees is urging CEO Andy Jassy to reconsider a caller return-to-office mandate.

Last week, Jassy announced Amazon would necessitate firm staffers to spent astatine slightest 3 days a week successful the bureau opening May 1. Amazon is rolling backmost its pandemic-era flexibility toward distant enactment aft Jassy and Amazon's enactment team, known arsenic the S-team, determined it would beryllium easier for employees to collaborate and invent unneurotic successful person, portion besides strengthening the company's culture.

The determination marks a displacement from Amazon's anterior policy, past updated in October 2021, which near it up to managers to determine however often their teams needed to beryllium successful the office. Since then, there's been a premix of afloat distant and hybrid enactment among Amazon's white-collar workforce.

Staffers connected Friday created a Slack transmission to advocator for distant enactment and stock their concerns astir the caller instrumentality to enactment policy, according to screenshots viewed by CNBC. Almost 14,000 employees had joined the Slack transmission arsenic of Tuesday morning.

The employees person besides drafted a petition, addressed to Jassy and the S-team, that calls for enactment to driblet the caller policy, saying it "runs contrary" to Amazon's positions connected diverseness and inclusion, affordable housing, sustainability, and absorption connected being the "Earth's Best Employer."

"We, the undersigned, telephone for Amazon to support its relation and presumption arsenic a planetary retail and tech person by instantly cancelling the RTO argumentation and issuing a caller argumentation that allows employees to enactment remotely oregon much flexibly, if they take to bash so, arsenic their squad and occupation relation permits," according to a draught of the petition, which was antecedently reported by Business Insider.

An Amazon spokesperson pointed backmost to Jassy's blog post astir return-to-office guidance.

The employees besides pointed to Jassy's erstwhile statements connected return-to-office plans, successful which he said determination is nary "one-size-fits-all attack for however each squad works best" and extolled the benefits of distant work.

"Many employees trusted these statements and planned for a beingness wherever their leader wouldn't unit them to instrumentality to the office," a draught of the petition states. "The RTO mandate shattered their spot successful Amazon's leaders."

Employees who moved during the pandemic oregon were hired for a distant relation are acrophobic astir however the caller argumentation volition interaction them, according to 1 employee, who asked to stay anonymous. Amazon's headcount ballooned implicit the past 3 years, and it hired much employees extracurricular of its cardinal tech hubs similar Seattle, New York, and Northern California arsenic it embraced a much distributed workforce.

Amazon hasn't addressed whether distant employees volition beryllium asked to relocate, beyond Jassy noting that determination volition beryllium "a tiny minority" of exceptions to the caller policy.

The petition cites interior information showing that a important stock of employees similar moving afloat distant with the enactment of a monthly sync-up in-office, oregon similar moving successful the bureau astatine astir 1 to 2 days a week. It besides points to probe showing that distant enactment increases productivity, and allows companies specified arsenic Amazon to trim expenses and pull and clasp apical talent.

It besides notes that a instrumentality to mostly in-person enactment could impact employees' work-life balance, and could peculiarly wounded parents, minorities, caregivers and radical with disabilities. Employees besides questioned Amazon's rationale down forcing in-person enactment successful each cases. For instance, immoderate employees who are portion of planetary teams volition travel into the bureau lone to proceed taking virtual meetings, and they whitethorn not adjacent person a coworker successful their office, the petition states.

WATCH: Andy Jassy connected the benefits of distant work