Companies (and cities) are cracking down on office return policies, and Amazon is joining the club.
The tech giant has is said to have begun hitting the “coffee label”, (a deadline for hybrid employees who come into the office, grab a coffee, chat with a few colleagues and then leave), tracking the number of hours they are in the office – and installing a minimum time.
Connected: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy scolds employees who resist back-to-office mandate
“Over a year ago we asked employees to start coming into the office three or more days a week because we believed it would deliver the best long-term results for our customers, the business and the culture. And it has,” the spokeswoman for Amazon, Margaret Callahan. said Business Insider. “Now that more than a year has passed, we're starting to speak directly to employees who haven't regularly spent significant amounts of time in the office to make sure they understand the importance of spending quality time with their colleagues. “
Leaked Slack messages viewed by BI showed that employees in various teams had minimum mandates for an office visit to be counted for attendance. Some teams had a minimum of two hours, others six.
“Remember when we were measured by metrics that actually mattered?” one employee reportedly wrote on Slack.
In February 2023, CEO Andy Jassy said that most Amazon employees should be expected to be in the office at least three days a week. This policy took effect three months later in May.
Immediately after, another The leaked internal document revealed that Amazon managers were allowed to fire employees if they did not comply with their team's return-to-office policy.
Enabling Amazon Remote Work continued that November when leaked documents showed that employees seeking a promotion had to be in the office no less than three days a week. If not, they will need permission from a VP to be eligible for promotion.
Connected: Amazon will now fire workers who don't come into the office
“It's past time to disagree and commit,” Jassy said during an internal meeting last summer. “And if you can't disagree and commit, I understand that too, but it probably won't work for you at Amazon because we're going to be back in the office at least three days a week, and it's not fair for everybody . our teammates to be in three days a week and people refuse to do it.”
Amazon did not immediately respond of the entrepreneur request for comment.