UK Edition
The chief executive of Amazon has warned staff who work from home that “it’s probably not going to work out”.
Andy Jassy reportedly criticised remote-working employees who fail to meet Amazon’s official policy, which requires staff to work from the office at least three days a week.
His comments were made during a recent company meeting, Insider first reported.
“It’s past the time to disagree and commit,” said Mr Jassy.
“And if you can’t disagree and commit, I also understand that, but it’s probably not going to work out for you at Amazon because we are going back to the office at least three days a week, and it’s not right for all of our teammates to be in three days a week and for people to refuse to do so.”
The phrase “disagree and commit” is one of Amazon’s leadership principles that was often used by Amazon’s founder and current executive chairman, Jeff Bezos.
The principle gives employees the right to challenge company decisions they disagree with and to argue for an alternative. However, workers are also obligated to accept final decisions, such as Amazon’s back-to-office mandate.
The alleged remarks came after Amazon formally introduced its three-day policy on May 1, which was first announced in February.
The policy scrapped previous guidance from 2021 which left line managers in charge of office attendance requirements.
Only a “small minority” of workers are excluded from the in-office requirements, including for some sales and customer support jobs.
In a memo to employees posted on Amazon’s corporate blog, Mr Jassy said in February: “Teams tend to be better connected to one another when they see each other in person more frequently.
“There is something about being face-to-face with somebody, looking them in the eye, and seeing they’re fully immersed in whatever you’re discussing that bonds people together.”
The Amazon boss also recognised that “for some employees, adjusting again to a new way of working will take some time”.
Amazon subsequently rejected an internal petition signed by 30,000 employees, which demanded that the e-commerce company return hybrid working decisions back to its team leaders.
The petition read: “Amazon’s top-down, one-size-fits-all RTO [return to office] mandate undermines the diverse, accessible future that we want to be a part of.”
Amazon has allegedly begun tracking the attendance of US-based employees through their ID badges, the Financial Times reported.
Amazon’s crackdown on remote workers follows plans to layoff nearly 30,000 workers as part of deep cost cutting measures amid economic uncertainty.
Amazon was contacted for comment.
Other tech giants have battled with rebels refusing to return to their office desks.
Apple, Meta and Google-owner Alphabet have all increased the number of days that employees are expected to come into the office each week, while Elon Musk recently called working from home “morally wrong” after ending the policy for Twitter staff.