SINGAPORE: Tech giant Amazon is delaying its five-day return-to-office policy, slated to start in January, for thousands of workers due to a lack of office space.
The company recently informed some workers in at least seven United States cities – including Austin, Dallas and Phoenix – that their return dates would be pushed back by up to four months, reported Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the situation.
According to Bloomberg, Amazon employs over 350,000 corporate employees globally, mostly in the US. It is unclear how many workers will be affected by the delay.
Staff in Dallas were told there would be insufficient office space for all of them to come in five days a week until March or April, while some workers at the company’s Midtown Manhattan office would not have space for full-time work until May, sources told Bloomberg.
Amazon has also informed it workers in Atlanta, Nashville and Houston that it did not have enough space for them all to return in January, Business Insider reported on Monday (Dec 16).
A spokesperson for the company told Bloomberg that, in most cases, the return-to-office delays came about as a result of reconfigurations of buildings that had been used to accommodate part-time remote workers and not because of a lack of available office space.
Reports of the delays came as Amazon warehouse workers at several of its US facilities threatened to go on strike, aiming to pressure the company into contract negotiations with their union. Workers at seven facilities subsequently walked off the job early on Thursday.
UNPOPULAR DECISION
Amazon issued its five-day return-to-office mandate in September, to the ire of workers who said that working from home was effective and saved them time and money.
This requirement was a step-up from a prior three-day mandate and was slated to kick off on Jan 2, 2025.
CEO Andy Jassy wrote a letter to employees globally on Sep 16 saying that the experience of the three-day mandate “strengthened (Amazon’s) conviction about the benefits” of in-office work.
“We’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and teams tend to be better connected to one another,” he said.
The move did not sit well with a number of Amazon’s Singapore employees, with one staff member telling CNA at the time that they had grown accustomed to hybrid working and that the move to return to the office full-time ran counter to what other companies were doing.
He added that the company’s hybrid working model had been particularly helpful for staff members who were taking care of children and aged parents.
Another employee said that there was some anger and uncertainty among staff on the day the mandate was announced, but also bemusement in the days that followed, with the amount of news coverage the move received globally.
CNA has asked Amazon if the mandate will be implemented at its Singapore office as planned.