Amazon ends remote work for corporate staff worldwide, sparks controversy

Amazon has sparked controversy by scrapping remote work options for its corporate employees, affecting hundreds of thousands of staff worldwide. The decision has led to widespread discontent, particularly at the company’s Seattle headquarters.

Last year’s tightening of remote work policies triggered a staff protest, which resulted in the organizer’s termination, sparking allegations of unfair retaliation. The dispute is now being investigated by labor officials, according to BBC reports.

In a message to employees, CEO Andy Jassy expressed concerns that Amazon’s corporate culture—once characterised by the intensity of a start-up—was being diluted by flexible working arrangements and an excess of bureaucratic layers.

He said the company had set up a “bureaucracy mailbox” for staff to report unnecessary rules and asked managers to reorganise teams, ensuring they oversee more people. This reorganisation, Jassy noted, could result in job cuts, which would be communicated at the team level.

In addition to the full return to the office, Amazon is reinstating “assigned desk arrangements” at locations where this practice was previously in place, including its US headquarters.

Jassy said remote work would still be allowed under exceptional circumstances, such as caring for a sick child or dealing with a home emergency. However, he made it clear: “Our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances.”

During the pandemic, remote work peaked across many industries. As companies began recalling staff in 2022, the return to the office has been uneven.

By this summer, only 12% of full-time employees in the US were fully remote, while 27% reported hybrid work arrangements, according to research from economists Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom, and Steven J Davis.

Some high-profile business leaders, including JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, have been vocal critics of remote work, demanding a full-time office presence. This trend has extended to other sectors, with companies like UPS and Dell also recalling staff to the office full-time this year.

While Jassy said Amazon’s experience with hybrid working had “strengthened our conviction about the benefits” of in-person work, Professor Nicholas Bloom from Stanford University observed that this might not signal a broader shift.

He noted that his data has shown office attendance has remained steady for over a year, adding: “For every high-profile company cancelling work-from-home, there are others expanding it—they just don’t get picked up in the media.”

(with inputs from BBC)

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