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CEO of Amazon AWS: Quit If You Don't Want to Return to the Workplace

By Consultants Review Team Friday, 18 October 2024

On Thursday, one of Amazon's top executives defended the company's new, contentious 5-day-per-week in-office policy, saying those who oppose it may find another job. According to reports, unit CEO Matt Garman stated during an AWS all-hands meeting that nine out of ten employees he has spoken with favor the new policy, which goes into force in January.

Those who do not desire to cooperate may resign, he stated.

"If there are people who just don't work well in that environment and don't want to, that's okay, there are other companies around," pointed out Garman. "When we want to really, really innovate on interesting products, I have not seen an ability for us to do that when we're not in-person."

Many Amazon employees have expressed dissatisfaction with the policy, claiming that traveling costs time and that the benefits of working from the office are not substantiated by independent evidence.

Amazon had previously enforced a three-day in-office requirement, but CEO Andy Jassy said last month that the retailer will expand to five days to "invent, collaborate, and be connected."

Some workers who had not previously been cooperative were informed that they were "voluntarily resigning" and were shut out of business networks.

Amazon, the world's second-largest private employer after Walmart, has adopted a tougher stance on returning to work than several of its technological counterparts, like Google, Meta, and Microsoft, who have two- to three-day in-office policy.

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"I'm actually quite excited about this change," explained Garman. "I know not everyone is," he remarked, emphasizing that it's too difficult to meet the company's objectives with only the existing three days of in-office work.

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