Amazon CEO Issues RTO Edict for Corporate Employees
The e-commerce giant is ordering that more than 350,000 employees to return to the office five days a week.
The “new normal” will officially end for Amazon employees in 2025.
This week, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy issued a memo announcing that corporate employees will be required to work in the office five days a week starting Jan. 2. The policy change will affect over 350,000 of Amazon’s corporate workforce.
“When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant,” Jassy wrote in the memo. “We’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture. Collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective, teaching and learning from one another are more seamless, and teams tend to be better connected.”
Jassy noted that the last 15 months, during which employees have been working in the office three days a week, have reaffirmed Amazon’s commitment to full-time office work. The memo also mentioned that remote work would still be possible, but only with approval from a member of Amazon’s senior leadership team.
The e-commerce behemoth is among a growing number of companies pushing for a return to full-time in-office work.
A recent survey by ResumeBuilder found that nine out of 10 companies are planning to implement similar mandates next year. The survey, which gathered data from 764 companies that transitioned to fully remote work during the pandemic, found that a third of companies plan to increase the number of required in-office days. However, 15% said they would reduce the number of on-site workdays. Only 6% of companies surveyed do not plan to require any employees to return to the office, while 30% currently require employees to work in the office full-time.
Meanwhile, office occupancy rates continue to fluctuate across major cities. According to Kastle Systems, which tracks keycard swipe data, occupancy from Sept. 5 to Sept. 11 in New York City ranged from 28.2% to 66.1%, while in Chicago, it spanned from 30.9% to 69.8%. In Los Angeles, occupancy balanced from 36% to 55.7%. Tuesday consistently saw the highest occupancy across cities, with Monday showing the lowest.