Amazon sent shockwaves through its ranks — and corporate America — Monday when CEO Andrew Jassy told workers they will be expected to report to the office five days a week starting in January.
The decision represents one of the most stringent return to office policies from a major corporation since the pandemic, when offices were suddenly shuttered and many employees shifted to remote work. Amazon’s move is also unusual for a business in the tech industry, which has largely embraced remote and hybrid work arrangements.
Under the company’s current mandate, Amazon workers have been reporting to their physical offices three days a week, although that will expire by the beginning of next year. While advocates of in-office work argue that showing up in person helps foster collaboration and feelings of connectedness, skeptics say Amazon could be imposing the mandate to reduce headcount, as some employees may search for more flexible jobs and depart, without having to lay off workers.
For his part, Jassy said the move is designed to improve company culture. But Amazon workers are reportedly grousing on internal forums about the move.
Amazon isn’t alone in reining in remote work. Here are a few of the major employers that have summoned workers back to the office.
Amazon
CEO Andrew Jassy said the back-to-the-office decision is based on his observation that collaborating and brainstorming work better when people are together in the office.
To foster a culture of collaboration, “we’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID,” Jassy said in a memo to employees posted on Amazon’s website. “When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant.”
Disney
Disney mandates that employees work in the office four days a week, typically Monday to Thursday.
“[I]n a creative business like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe and create with peers that comes from being physically together, nor the opportunity to grow professionally by learning from leaders and mentors,” CEO Bob Iger said in a 2023 memo to employees.
JPMorgan
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is a staunch advocate of in-person work, and once blasted remote work as a policy that “does not work for younger people. It doesn’t work for those who want to hustle,” he said at a business forum. He was among the first leaders to summon employees back to the workplace.
As of April 2023, workers have been reporting to JPMorgan offices at least three times a week. The company is reportedly tracking attendance, too.
Starbucks
While the coffee giant’s new CEO Brian Niccol will commute to Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters from his Newport Beach, California residence, most other workers likely live in closer proximity to their offices, given that they must be at their desks three days a week.
Niccol is not exempt from following the mandate, according to the company.
X
X owner Elon Musk has consistently opposed remote work, saying he believes workers are more productive when working from a corporate office.
In 2022, he said all X workers would be expected to report to the office on a full-time basis, and that he would interpret a failure to show up as a resignation from the company.
Zoom
Even pandemic icon Zoom, one of the companies that benefitted the most from remote work, last summer told workers who live near a company office to report to their desks at least two times a week, a company spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch.
The mandate applies to its roughly 7,400 workers who live near a Zoom office, the videoconferencing platform said at the time.
