Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that the company will require employees to work from the office five days a week beginning January 2, 2025, reversing its current hybrid work policy.
“We’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID,” Jassy wrote in a memo to staff. The move ends Amazon’s previous three-day in-office requirement implemented last year.
“If anything, the last 15 months we’ve been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits,” Jassy stated.
Jassy clarified that the new policy doesn’t mean a rigid five-day office presence for all employees. “Before the pandemic, not everybody was in the office five days a week, every week,” he explained. “If you or your child were sick, if you had some sort of house emergency, if you were on the road seeing customers or partners, if you needed a day or two to finish coding in a more isolated environment, people worked remotely. This was understood, and will be moving forward as well.”
However, Jassy emphasised that the default expectation has changed: “But, before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward—our expectation is that people will be in the office”
The new policy applies to all corporate employees, barring “extenuating circumstances” or pre-approved remote work exceptions.
Amazon will also reinstate assigned desk arrangements at U.S. headquarters locations in the Puget Sound area and Arlington, Virginia. European offices will continue using agile desk setups.
Jassy cited several benefits of in-person work, including easier collaboration, more effective brainstorming and invention, and stronger team connections.
Alongside the return-to-office mandate, Jassy outlined plans to streamline Amazon’s management structure, aiming to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% by the end of Q1 2025.
These changes are part of Amazon’s effort to “operate like the world’s largest startup,” with Jassy emphasising the need for “strong urgency, high ownership, fast decision-making, scrappiness and frugality, deeply-connected collaboration.”
To address potential bureaucracy, Jassy announced the creation of a “Bureaucracy Mailbox” for employees to report unnecessary processes.
The new policy may face pushback from employees. Previous return-to-office plans sparked protests at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters in May 2023.
To ease the transition, Amazon is giving staff over three months to adjust before the January 2025 implementation date. “We understand that some of our teammates may have set up their personal lives in such a way that returning to the office consistently five days per week will require some adjustments,” Jassy acknowledged.
“We’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID,” Jassy wrote in a memo to staff. The move ends Amazon’s previous three-day in-office requirement implemented last year.
“If anything, the last 15 months we’ve been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits,” Jassy stated.
Jassy clarified that the new policy doesn’t mean a rigid five-day office presence for all employees. “Before the pandemic, not everybody was in the office five days a week, every week,” he explained. “If you or your child were sick, if you had some sort of house emergency, if you were on the road seeing customers or partners, if you needed a day or two to finish coding in a more isolated environment, people worked remotely. This was understood, and will be moving forward as well.”
However, Jassy emphasised that the default expectation has changed: “But, before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward—our expectation is that people will be in the office”
The new policy applies to all corporate employees, barring “extenuating circumstances” or pre-approved remote work exceptions.
Amazon will also reinstate assigned desk arrangements at U.S. headquarters locations in the Puget Sound area and Arlington, Virginia. European offices will continue using agile desk setups.
Jassy cited several benefits of in-person work, including easier collaboration, more effective brainstorming and invention, and stronger team connections.
Alongside the return-to-office mandate, Jassy outlined plans to streamline Amazon’s management structure, aiming to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% by the end of Q1 2025.
These changes are part of Amazon’s effort to “operate like the world’s largest startup,” with Jassy emphasising the need for “strong urgency, high ownership, fast decision-making, scrappiness and frugality, deeply-connected collaboration.”
To address potential bureaucracy, Jassy announced the creation of a “Bureaucracy Mailbox” for employees to report unnecessary processes.
The new policy may face pushback from employees. Previous return-to-office plans sparked protests at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters in May 2023.
To ease the transition, Amazon is giving staff over three months to adjust before the January 2025 implementation date. “We understand that some of our teammates may have set up their personal lives in such a way that returning to the office consistently five days per week will require some adjustments,” Jassy acknowledged.
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