It’s a debate that has raged on since the early pandemic days: Employers vacillate between giving employees remote, flexible working options and worrying about their productivity levels and whether they are missing out on the benefits of in-person collaboration. This pendulum swing has ended for Amazon. On Sept. 16, Amazon announced a “return to work” mandate, calling their remote workers back to the office five days per week starting in 2025.
In the message from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, he starts out, “Hey team. I wanted to send a note on a couple changes we’re making to further strengthen our culture and team.” He goes on to share numerous conclusions about the company’s “unprecedented success,” growth and ways he’s improving company culture all the time, including a “bureaucracy mailbox” where employees can send examples of unnecessary processes in the workplace they can eliminate.
Then, he lowers the boom: “To address the second issue of being 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.”
Amazon’s argument for return to office work
Jassy references a previous document from February 2023 covering the benefits of in-office work, with a greater goal of prioritizing “what would best enable us to make customers’ lives better and easier every day.” Here’s what he concluded after his team observed multiple working models in the post-pandemic years:
- It’s easier to improve company culture in office “surrounded by colleagues,” especially for new hires.
- People are more “engaged” and “attuned to what’s happening in meetings” in person.
- It’s easier for leaders to teach with “more people in a room at one time” to assess if they are understanding the information.
- The energy is more magnetic in person, as is “riffing on one another’s ideas… more freely.”
- In-person work helps team members bond more deeply.
Of course, he has business in mind, pointing out specific locations around the urban headquarters such as “Puget Sound, Virginia, Nashville and the dozens of cities around the world where our employees go to the office,” where they expect a “boost” for nearby companies.
However, Amazon takes on some risk in requiring a return to office, especially in an industry largely known for its freedom and flexibility. The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy shared research in May 2024 that suggested top talent looks elsewhere when tech companies like Microsoft, SpaceX and Apple mandate in-person work. “Our results suggest that return to office policies can lead to an outflow of senior employees, posing a potential threat to the productivity, innovation and competitiveness of the wider firm,” researchers wrote.
A culture improvement or a scheme to force resignations?
Some analysts have zeroed in on the first section of Jassy’s announcement, which references the layers and layers of employees they’ve hired to support remote work practices and for other reasons. Roben Farzad, host of the podcast Full Disclosure, is among those suggesting that Amazon wants to “manage people out,” and they are an “extremely metrics driven company.” He wonders whether this is simply an announcement preceding an actual layoff soon.
But others say it’s just a sign of the times, and across many industries, more bosses are mandating return to office policies. ResumeBuilder’s 2023 survey of 1,000 company leaders found that 9 out of 10 leaders predicted that the majority will RTO by the end of 2024, and that for some, that prediction is becoming a reality.
Brad Glasser, corporate communications at Amazon, didn’t respond to our question about the intentions of the mandate. He says, “In lieu of a statement, please see the message we shared with employees earlier this week here. These sections may be especially helpful…” He references the significant advantages, as well as Amazon’s ongoing family-friendly flexibility, saying, “Before the pandemic, not everybody was 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. This was understood, and will be moving forward as well.” Finally, Glasser called out the section about a slow transition back, as it will be an “adjustment” to how employees have set up their lives.
Will Amazon’s mandate spark a resurgence in return to office policies?
“This ongoing debate, in which both leaders and staff are actively participating, has seen a consistent push and pull for what’s the better work model. This tug-of-war will continue in the future, with a crop of employers who are pro-RTO, conversely met with many employees who are avid supporters of working from home,” says Kareem Bakr, managing director of Phaidon International, a global talent partner with 15 offices across the world, including locations in London, Hong Kong and Chicago.
Amazon’s announcement came, to the irony of parents everywhere, on National Working Parents Day, prompting discussion of how family-friendly these types of policies really are. Bakr says, “In recent months, some firms that once implemented a strict five-day in-office mandate are now switching back to hybrid models. This shift is primarily due to the demand from employees for a more flexible work arrangement and the struggle to retain high performers who have grown accustomed to the benefits of remote work.”
He says that specific industries will always need in-person work—from supply chain managers to life scientists—but otherwise, he predicts “highly sought after benefits” like this will be the necessity for companies wanting to recruit the best in the field.
While Amazon’s message pointed to numbers and potential increases in profitability, Bakr says you have to care for the employees first. “It’s crucial to structure your model based on what would be the most beneficial for your staff. This approach, which values and considers the needs of your team, not only is key for retaining and recruiting the right minds but also makes them feel integral to the decision-making process. At the end of the day, it’s the people who will drive collaboration and innovation, so they need to feel valued.”
How leaders should consider the RTO decision
It’s not one to make lightly, that’s for sure. “Before a company decides to roll out an RTO mandate, they should ask themselves, ‘What are we trying to solve by taking this action?’ If they are hoping to solve the issue of low company morale and collaboration, they need to be able to explain how this will tangibly improve in the new environment and why this change will actually benefit those who have built a life accustomed to a hybrid or remote model,” Bakr says.
“On the flip side, if the employer is taking the RTO action to solve for underperformance in their workforce, then they should be prepared to bring data-driven points to the table about how much more productive someone will be in an office versus at home.” He shares that the decision has the potential to cause “disgruntled employees” reacting about their autonomy being removed from their work life.
Finally, employers can watch the data, use employee satisfaction surveys and even focus groups to continue talking to employees after the decision has been made, including accounting for their potential stress and mental health changes. Even if remote work isn’t in the permanent plan for everyone, the pandemic still taught us these values have to be at the heart of a company for true success.
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