E-commerce giant Amazon has announced it will require corporate employees to attend the office five days a week, starting early next year.
Chief executive Andy Jassy broke the news in a memo shared with staff members today.
He said senior managers had been examining how to better “invent, collaborate and be connected enough to each other” to provide the best outcome for both customers and the business.
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Employees would be required to attend the office five days per week from January 2, 2025.
“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,” Jassy said in the note to employees.
The company’s previous office attendance requirement was three days a week.
Jassy’s message said Amazon workers can claim “extenuating circumstances”, such as caring for a sick child or a “house emergency”.
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Like many other companies, Amazon’s corporate employees worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the company saw huge gains from major growth in online shopping. In 2021, the tech giant began a policy that allowed leaders to determine how their teams worked.
But early last year there were protests from some workers in the US when Amazon management said it was requiring employees to attend the office three days per week.
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Jassy in his memo today said management believed it was easier for employees to “learn, model, practice and strengthen” the company’s culture and share ideas when they’re gathered in person.
“If anything, the last 15 months we’ve been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits,” he said.
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