Amazon CEO says 5-day-office mandate not a disguise for layoffs
06 Nov 2024

Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy has denied claims that the new 5-day office mandate is a "backdoor layoff."

During an all-hands staff meeting, he clarified that the new policy is not intended to weed out non-complying employees or appease city leaders.

The e-commerce giant recently announced that starting January 2, 2025, employees will be required to work in-office five days a week, up from the previous three-day requirement.

This decision sparked employee backlash and speculation about the company's underlying motives.

Return-to-office policy not a cost-saving measure
Policy clarification

Speaking at the all-hands meeting, as seen by Reuters, Jassy said, "A number of people I've seen theorized that the reason we were doing this is, it's a backdoor layoff, or we made some sort of deal with city or cities."

"I can tell you both of those are not true," he said, asserting that neither of the assumptions was correct.

Jassy also stressed that the return-to-office policy was not introduced as a cost-saving measure.

Employee dissatisfaction and protest over the mandate
Staff reaction

Amazon's new work policy hasn't been well-received by many employees, with some even considering resignation.

In October, hundreds of employees signed a letter protesting remarks made by Matt Garman, head of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Garman had suggested that those unwilling to comply with the five-day office attendance requirement could seek employment elsewhere.

This comes even as Amazon has laid off over 27,000 workers since 2022.