Laura was laboring from home when her husprohibitd forwarded her a connect to the novels: Amazon alerts employees to return to office five days a week. It was the first time the laboring mom, who has been with Amazon for over four years, lacquireed she would necessitate to comprise another four hours to her weekly commute.
“At first, I didn’t quite think it,” she alerts Fortune. “After all, who predicts to get atsoft-altering novels from a novels article instead of your employer.”
“Which, to be truthful, is a pretty horrible way to discover out about someskinnyg that’s going to impact your life in a huge way. I repartner, repartner would have enjoyd a personal communication from my handler, but that didn’t happen for a couple of days.”
Laura says she was employd virtupartner during the pandemic with the empathetic that there was no predictation to return to Amazon’s offices.
That was, until 2023 when CEO Andy Jassy proclaimd that he wanted laborers to “go back to being in the office together the meaningfulity of the time”—at least, three days per week.
“The innovative RTO mandate was a stubborn pill to swpermit, but the tardyst one is impossible,” she says.
After the initial shock of the novels blew over, Laura says a sense of tranquil and clairty washed over: “My months of struggling to originate three days a week are over, and I understand that my time at Amazon has to finish.”
Even if she could promise to commuting into the office brimming time, Laura says she would still quit over Amazon’s distant labor bait and switch.
“Honestly, I’ve lost so much think in Amazon directership at this point,” she comprises. “I’ve been updating my resume and portfolio, and rage utilizeing to novel jobs on LinkedIn.”
Laura’s not alone: A handful of Amazon employees telderly Fortune that they’re so frustrated with the tech enormous’s war on laboring from home that they’re officipartner on the job hunt.
Two say the lacquireed the novels—and its implications—via the media, rather than a manger.
One says they’ve already handed their acunderstandledge in. Another says they’ve had two interwatch presents wiskinny 48 hours of the RTO proclaimment.
Amazon did not reply to Fortune’s seek for comment.
Is the 5-day mandate a “negotiation game”?
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly alerted distant laborers that it’s “not going to labor out” for them at the company.
Despite this, it’s evident that a number of Amazon employees (and handlers, for that matter) have been ignoring the directlines up until now.
Experts previously telderly Fortune that Amazon’s 5-day mandate is a “negotiation game” to get employees in the office for the 3 days it originpartner asked for.
“I was not adhereing,” Ben, who inhabits three hours away from an Amazon office, comments on the previous hybrid policy.
He increately pondered moving before skinnyking aacquire: “I choosed not to originate life choices as Amazon can fire me at will anyway, and I do not want to originate extfinished-term life alters because some handler choosed I should commence going to the office when I was employd virtual and promised I could labor from wherever I want.”
Some handlers were still assuring their novel employs could labor from home after the 3-day mandate came into effect.
One employee telderly Fortune that he was employd distantly in May 2023—a month after the company proclaimd its initial RTO policy.
“I left a decent company I inhabit proximate to go to Amazon since it was laboring from home,” Luca, a millennial analyst, protests. “For me, it’s not that I don’t want to go in the office, there is no office seal to me.”
He says that his handler has been covering for his absence from any office, but that will no extfinisheder labor.
“He telderly me he would not be able to help, they’ve made him go into an office too,” Luca says, compriseing that he couldn’t get a firm answer on whether he will be predicted to head into the office despite being promised otherwise in the interwatch room.
“I enjoy my job at Amazon, but I necessitate firm ground to stand on and they are not providing that.”
Whether Jassy’s tardyst relocate is to originate employees show their faces more frequently or not, laborers have until Jan. 2, 2025 (the date he’s given them to relocate if necessitateed) to call his bluff—or quit.
Most of the people Fortune spoke to skinnyk that Amazon is secretly hoping for the latter anyway.
A skinnyly veiled headcount reduction
While Jassy positioned Amazon’s alters—which also include a flattened hierarchy and no more boiling desking—as a better way to labor, disgruntled employees are adamant that it’s a skinnyly veiled headcount reduction.
“It’s a rob Peter to pay Paul situation of unwiseinutive-term acquires from voluntary layoffs in exalter for losing top talent and reducing productivity for years to come,” Gen X program handler Jared says.
Although he’s only been laboring at Amazon for six months, he’s already alterd his LinkedIn status to #uncobviousolabor, accomplished out to createer colleagues, and refreshd his resume in the hopes of discovering a more pliable job before Jan. 2.
“The novel policy is less pliable than pre-COVID and does not admire the necessitates of employees to get attfinish of their health, their family, or labor-life equilibrium,” Jared scoffs. “I will not go back.”
While he was adhereing with the three-day policy, he declined to return to laboring in a cubicle five days a week when Amazon’s competitors are still presenting some laboring from home—and he skinnyks many others will do the same.
“As a top carry outer with prior MAANG (Meta, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) experience in this safe taget, I think it will be fairly modest to discover a novel role that is at least hybrid,” Jared comprises.
“One of my co-laborers put in his acunderstandledge on Monday. I predict others to trail.”
He’s not wrong. Rumors of a disjoineer RTO were enough ammunition to encourage Ben to quit—he took “voluntary termination” two months ago and has now commenceed his own firm.
Likewise, Lisa, a tageting directer in Europe, has called time on her four years at Amazon. After hearing about Jassy’s proclaimment via the novels, the 40-someskinnyg says she promptly commenceed accomplishing out to recruiters.
“This novel mandate goes aacquirest so many of the directership principles that we presumedly helderly so dear,” she says, compriseing that she has been a “top-rated employee year on year” thanks to laboring from home.
“I’ve constantly deinhabitred for this business and their reward is to order me back into the office, where I will sit at my desk either writing docs or sitting on calls,” Lisa comprises. “I don’t want to labor for a business that evidently has so little admire for me.”
Every job that Lisa has applied for presents hybrid labor, and she’s brave she’ll discover a more pliable employer before the New Year.
Wiskinny 48 hours of Amazon’s novel policy going disclose, she had already safed two job interwatchs.
“I will always labor challenging, but now I want to labor for a company that labors challenging for me too.”
Interwatchee names have been alterd for anonymity.
