Employees at Amazon Singapore have responded less than enthusiastically after the tech firm announced on Sep. 16 that it would return to a full work-from-office model.
One staff noted that it was "quite a bummer", while another said the move would be "very, very disruptive" given the short lead time, CNA reported.
The new policy is scheduled to kick in on Jan. 2, 2025.
In particular, one employee said that as many joined the company during the pandemic, the hybrid work model is all they have known and they would need to get used to the switch.
"Obviously (the change) would disturb my lifestyle, it would disturb some of the things I used to do but I’ll just take it and handle it along the way," she said, adding that she understands that remote work is a "privilege".
She added: "If it really becomes such a pain point, I’ll just find another job that offers flexibility."
The announcement
Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, announced the controversial move to a pre-pandemic work model in a message addressed to employees on Sep. 16.
"When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant," he said.
He added that the last 15 months, in which the tech giant instilled a three-day work-from-office hybrid model, has "strengthened our conviction about the benefits".
Jassy noted that he has observed that teams "tend to be better connected to one another" while working in the same office.
That said, to allow teammates to smoothly transition to the new model, it will only kick in on Jan. 2, 2024, he concluded.
Pushback and walkouts
The announcement hasn't come out of the blue, however.
On May 1, 2023, Amazon ended its pandemic-era remote work arrangements by ordering employees back to the office at least three days a week.
"There is something about being face-to-face with somebody, looking them in the eye, and seeing they’re fully immersed in whatever you’re discussing that bonds people together," Jassy wrote, in a memo to employees on Feb. 17, 2023.
In response, about 3,000 Amazon employees worldwide staged a walkout, citing a "lack of trust in company leadership's decision making", CNBC reported.
Eliza Pan, co-founder of the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice group — which co-organised the walkout — called it a "rigid, one-size-fits-all return-to-office mandate".
She added that employees "still want a say in important decisions that affect all of our lives".
In addition, almost 30,000 Amazon employees signed a petition opposing the mandate, Business Insider reported.
This was later formally rejected by the firm's top human resource executive.
For or against remote work?
Amazon's move marks one of the strictest return-to-office polices among major tech firms, Financial Times reported.
Only 3 per cent of tech companies with more than 25,000 employees have returned to a five-day work-week in the office, according to an analysis of 2,670 companies by software firm Flex Index.
Among Big Tech firms, Apple, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft have so far opted to remain in some variation of a hybrid working pattern, although most have showed signs of moving towards more in-office days.
Another study, also by Flex Index, showed that larger firms had increased their adoption of structured hybrid models, whilst the percentage of firms opting for a full-time in-office policy saw a small decline.
At the time of the report, 15 per cent were on "fully flexible" models, 67 per cent were on a "structured hybrid" model, and 18 per cent operated on a "full time in office" model.
FlexOS founder Daan Van Rossum told Fortune that he believes Amazon has set the mandate as part of a "negotiation game", with the expectation that not everybody will be complaint.
"I expect a loosening of the policy as this public display of ‘office nostalgia’ versus the expected reality of offices — that they will still be half-empty even after the mandate goes into effect — will be visible to everyone," he added.
Top image from Janice Goh/Google Maps and AboutAmazon