Amazon has told workers to return to the office five days a week despite some criticism. Many businesses are looking at what successful brands like Amazon, Google, and Tesla are doing with staff returning to the office after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to staff, CEO Andy Jassy reminded employees that Amazon’s culture is unique. He said it’s no one’s “birthright” and that they have to “work at it all the time.”
Why is Amazon sending staff back to the office a full week?
The decision comes as a shocker for many. Amazon earlier expressed its stance on their work-from-home policy of three days a week.
Employees have until January 2025 to return to the office full-time, five days a week.
The only reasons employees would be excused from this policy are if there are “extenuating circumstances. They would have to be given permission by a manager.
What influenced Amazon to send staff back?
Jassy says this move was motivated by the desire to operate like the world’s largest startup.
“That means having a passion for constantly inventing for customers, strong urgency, high ownership, fast decision-making, scrappiness and frugality, deeply-connected collaboration, and a shared commitment to each other.”
He says Amazon expects people to be in the office, reminding employees that it was never a “given” that they could work from home.
Change in management at Amazon
With these changes, Amazon also plans to restructure its management team by having fewer people in charge of teams.
“We’re asking each S-team organization to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% by the end of Q1 2025. Having fewer managers will remove layers and flatten organizations more than they are today,” says Jassy.
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Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
