Amazon is delaying full RTO for some employees because it doesn't have enough workspace, internal notifications show
NEWS | 18 December 2024
Amazon is delaying full RTO for some employees over office-capacity issues. The policy required employees to work from the office five days a week, beginning January 2. Amazon has encountered workspace-capacity issues in the past. Amazon is delaying the start of its strict new RTO policy for some employees because the company doesn't have enough office space in certain locations, Business Insider has learned. The company's real estate team recently started notifying employees that they could continue following their current in-office guidance until workspaces were ready, with delays stretching to as late as May, according to internal Amazon notifications viewed by BI. Affected locations include Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, and New York, the notifications showed. An Amazon spokesperson said buildings would be ready for the majority of Amazon employees by January 2. Earlier this year, Amazon ordered employees to work from the office five days a week, beginning January 2. The company has said the return to office will improve collaboration and bring other benefits. CEO Andy Jassy, in a memo announcing the mandate, said Amazon made the decision to "further strengthen" its culture and teams. Some staff were upset by the change and have argued that remote work provides more flexibility. The five-day-a-week policy is stricter than at some Amazon rivals and, by some accounts, stricter than Amazon's office-work policy before the pandemic. This isn't the first time office-capacity constraints have delayed Amazon's RTO plans. When the company last year ordered employees to start working in the office at least three days a week, many of its buildings weren't ready to accommodate them all. In internal guidelines viewed by BI, Amazon told employees when the new five-day RTO policy was announced in September that they should plan to comply by January 2 whether or not they had assigned workspaces. "For the vast majority of employees, assigned workspaces will be available by January 2, 2025," the guidance said. "If your assigned workspace isn't ready by January 2, we still expect everyone to begin fully working from the office by that date." Are you a tech-industry employee or someone else with insight to share?
Author: Ashley Stewart.
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