Amazon issued a return-to-office (RTO) mandate successful September calling its firm labor backmost to the agency by January 2. Over a period has passed since the mandate, and immoderate Amazon labor person yet to spot the agency — because Amazon can't find capable desks to clasp its 350,000-person workforce.
According to a Thursday study from The Wall Street Journal, Amazon has postponed RTO for unit assigned to dozens of U.S. offices, including New York City, Houston, and Atlanta, owed to a deficiency of space. Amazon labor assigned to immoderate locations are still moving remotely arsenic they hold for further instructions astir erstwhile they should beryllium successful the agency full-time.
The San Francisco Bay Area is particularly short connected space. Amazon has 18 offices successful the region, but it lacks desks for astatine slightest 800 employees. In consequence past month, an soul group submitted a connection to Amazon's accommodation section asking for a caller agency to unfastened successful the area. According to the WSJ report, a spreadsheet supporting the connection has drawn signatures from adjacent to 600 Amazon employees.
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An Amazon spokesperson told the WSJ successful an email that "the overwhelming majority" of firm labor person desks and that only "a comparatively mini number" of Amazon's "hundreds of offices" are "not rather ready" for afloat in-person work.
Even successful offices pinch table space, location person been logistics issues pinch the RTO mandate, specified arsenic wherever labor should park. Jeff Ferris, main technologist astatine Amazon Web Services Cloud, posted connected X past period that erstwhile he tried to parkland his car successful the agency garage, he was turned distant by security.
"2,000 people, 900 parking spaces," he wrote.
Haha, showed up for #RTO (er, return to office, not the accustomed Recovery Time Objective successful my life of work) and sewage turned distant by information astatine the garage. "2000 people, 900 parking spaces," she said. ???
— Jeff Ferris (@trackzero) January 7, 2025Some Amazon labor who are backmost successful the agency study not having teammates who activity from the aforesaid location, challenging the objectives of in-person work.
When Amazon CEO Andy Jassy first announced the RTO argumentation in September, he stated that it would beryllium "easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and fortify our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing [is] simpler and much effective; school and learning from 1 different are much seamless; and, teams thin to beryllium amended connected to 1 another."
He reiterated the connection astatine a leaked all-hands gathering in November, telling labor that the RTO instruction was astir "strengthening our culture" and fostering collaboration.
Amazon labor person been moving in-person astatine slightest 3 days per week since May 2023. Other companies pinch five-day in-office policies see Salesforce and Walmart. Amazon laid disconnected dozens of labor successful its communications and sustainability departments past month.
Related: Starbucks' New CEO — Who Lives 1,000 Miles from HQ — Will Not Tell Employees What Specific Days to Come Into the Office
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