Amazon's strict new RTO rule creates an awkward situation for One Medical

• Amazon's One Medical recently rolled out a new hybrid work approach.
• It was different from Amazon's mandate for corporate employees to be in the office five days a week.
• Amazon has been integrating more closely with One Medical.

One Medical may have been the first big exception to Amazon's strict new RTO mandate.

One Medical told its employees earlier this month that they must come into the office three times a week starting in October 2025, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company gave employees over a year before the in-office mandate kicks in so that they can adjust and relocate if needed, the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing sensitive topics, but their identities are known to Business Insider.

Most One Medical employees were asked to be in one of four "hub" cities, Seattle, Austin, San Francisco, or Boston, the people said. Currently, almost 40% of One Medical employees are working outside these locations, one of the people added.

While this was a big change for One Medical employees, it was softer approach than Amazon 's new return-to-office policy. On Monday, CEO Andy Jassy announced that Amazon's corporate employees must work in an office five days a week starting in January. Many Amazon employees criticized the order in internal messages .

Now, it looks like One Medical's new policy is mostly scrapped, after just a couple of weeks.

"Starting in October 2025, all Amazon One Medical employees will be asked to come into the office five days a week in line with the rest of Amazon," an Amazon spokesperson told BI.

One Medical staff have an extra 10 months to prepare. But otherwise, they must get on board with Jassy's full-time in-office approach.

One Medical employees had been allowed to work remotely full time, even after Amazon acquired the company for $3.9 billion early last year. One Medical CEO Trent Green this year even highlighted remote work as a major perk as the company went through layoffs and a major reorganization.

Even the brief existence of One Medical's three-day rule was causing uncertainty and frustration at the healthcare unit, some of the people said. Amazon has been more tightly integrating with One Medical lately, rolling out Amazon's own human-resources and benefits policy as well as compensation structure to the division. Amazon is also scrutinizing One Medical's financial performance, ordering drastic cost cuts to control losses .

People on Amazon's side have been equally frustrated with One Medical, one of the people said. One Medical has struggled to adapt to Amazon's faster pace of work and rigid culture centered around its leadership principles. One Medical's staff, meanwhile, feels Amazon is disrupting a business that had performed well and grew faster before the acquisition, some of the people said.

The messaging from One Medical's leadership earlier this month was that working in the same physical space could be more productive, echoing Jassy's thinking, these people said.

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