Amazon’s shift: First big tech to mandate employees in office five days a week

Starting January 2025, Amazon aims to have all employees back full-time.

Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, sent a memo on September 16 stating that corporate staff must work at the office five days a week.

The decision represents a significant change from Amazon’s previous return-to-work policy, which mandated that corporate employees be in the office at least three days per week.

The employees have time until January 2 to comply with the new policy set by the company.

Absolute best for customers

Jassy wrote in the memo that the new work-from-office policy will be better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other and “our culture to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business, we’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID.”

“When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant. I’ve previously explained these benefits, but in summary, 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 to one another,” Jassy said.

He said that, if anything, the last 15 months of the company’s being back in the office at least three days a week have strengthened the conviction about the benefits.

He emphasized that even before the pandemic, only some were in the office five days a week, every week.

“If you or your child were sick, if you had some sort of house emergency, if you were on the road seeing customers or partners, if you needed a day or two to finish coding in a more isolated environment, people worked remotely,” Jassy added.

“This was understood, and will be moving forward as well. But, before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward—our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances (like the ones mentioned above) or if you already have a Remote Work Exception approved through your s-team leader.”

Bringing back desks

Jassy said that the company will also bring back assigned desk arrangements in locations previously organized that way, including the US headquarters locations (Puget Sound and Arlington).

For locations that had agile desk arrangements before the pandemic, including much of Europe, the company will continue to operate that way.

“We understand that some of our teammates may have set up their personal lives in such a way that returning to the office consistently five days per week will require some adjustments,” Jassy added.

“To help ensure a smooth transition, we’re going to make this new expectation active on January 2, 2025. Global Real Estate and Facilities (GREF) is working on a plan to accommodate desk arrangements mentioned above and will communicate the details as they are finalized.”

The company rapidly increased its headcount during the pandemic before Jassy took over and implemented widespread cost cuts across Amazon, including the largest layoffs in its 27 years as a public company.

Amazon employed 1.53 million workers in the second quarter, a 5% increase from the previous year. In comparison, the company had 1.52 million employees in the second quarter of 2022, reflecting a 14% growth.