Amazon is reverting to its pre-pandemic policy and will require corporate employees to be in the office five days a week starting next year, CEO Andy Jassy said Monday.
Jassy said in a message shared with employees that the companyโs leadership had been thinking in recent months about how to better โinvent, collaborate and be connected enough to each otherโ to deliver the best results for customers and the business.
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The company decided that bringing employees back into Amazon offices five days a week instead of the three currently required was a way to address that issue, the CEO said.
โWhen we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant,โ Jassy wrote in the memo, which Amazon also shared on its website. The policy takes effect on January 2, 2025.
Like many other companies, Amazonโs corporate employees worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the company saw massive gains from a boost in online shopping. In 2021, the tech giant implemented a policy that allowed leaders to determine how their teams worked.
In February 2023, Amazon asked all employees to come back to the office for three mandatory days, resulting in some protests from workers.
A few months later, Jassy said employees who were not happy about the change should learn to โdisagree and commit.โ He also issued somewhat of a subtle threat, saying it was โprobably not going to work outโ for those who refused to do so.
In his note on Monday, Jassy said the company has observed that it is easier for employees to โlearn, model, practice and strengthenโ Amazonโs culture and brainstorm when theyโre together in person.
โIf anything, the last 15 months weโve been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits,โ he said.