A reception desk at Amazon offices in downtown Seattle, Washington.
Glenn Chapman | AFP | Getty Images
Amazon employees on Tuesday continued to speak out about CEO Andy Jassy’s recently announced mandate, including spamming an internal website with messages expressing their opposition to the new policy.
A group of tech workers created a Slack channel and wrote an internal petition pushing back the mandate to be back in the office at least three days a week starting May 1. The petition urges Jassy and Amazon’s leadership team, known as the S-Team, to drop the mandate just days after it was announced.
The group has since amassed 16,000 members, and as of Tuesday night, about 5,000 employees have signed the petition.
Employee dissatisfaction with the mandate spilled over into the internal newsfeed of online employee retailer Inside Amazon, where employees repeatedly commented on a recording of Jassy’s recent all-hands meeting.
“By arbitrarily enforcing the return to the office without providing data to back it up, and despite clear evidence that this is the wrong decision for employees, Amazon has failed in its role as the world’s best place to work,” according to screenshots viewed by CNBC. “I believe this decision will hurt our business and goes against the way we make decisions at Amazon.”
According to an employee who asked to remain anonymous, employees began leaving these comments after Amazon blocked employees from “liking” or commenting on Jassy’s memo announcing the mandate to return to the office. Each comment reflects the poster’s identity and role in the company.
Employees who posted to the Slack channel said they were surprised by the announcement. Many expressed frustration at having to find childcare or caregiver arrangements for aging parents, or possibly having to relocate to be within commuting distance of the office.
One worker said he recently leased a car that came with an annual maximum mileage of 16,000 miles, assuming remote work was still an option; If they have to be in the office at least three days a week, they’re exceeding that limit.
Others, taking advantage of the company’s previous flexible working attitude, have relocated outside of the big cities to find more affordable housing and are now worried about their commute.
An employee invited Jassy to the Slack channel, prompting employees to encourage their colleagues to be responsible and avoid making too much of a splash as it could result in the company shutting down the channel.
Many employees put the phrase “Remote Advocacy” in their Slack status to show their support for the petition.
In addition to raising concerns about the mandate, the petition presents a number of data points and studies highlighting the benefits of remote work, such as: B. Improved productivity and ability to attract and retain top talent.
Previously, Amazon had left it up to individual managers to decide how often their teams needed to come into the office. Jassy had also embraced remote and hybrid work and predicted it would have a lasting impact on how people get work done.
Last week, Jassy acknowledged that calling employees back to the office would present some challenges.
“We know it won’t be perfect initially, but the office experience will steadily improve over the months (and years) to come as our real estate and facilities teams smooth the wrinkles and ultimately evolve the way we want our offices to evolve set up to capture the new ways of working that we want,” Jassy wrote in a memo announcing the mandate.
Several tech companies have returned to in-person work as the pandemic subsides. Google and Apple have been requiring some of their employees to return to the office since last year, while Disney began requiring hybrid employees to be in the office four days a week in January.