After embracing remote work in the early days of the health crisis, tech companies are increasingly putting more pressure on their employees to return to physical offices. Andy JassyCEO of Amazon, went so far as to warn his employees that if they do not want to do so, they should consider looking for a job at another company.
According to publish Business Insider, in a meeting held in August, Andy Jassy dodged questions related to the reasons that justified this return to the offices. The employees wanted to know what data the firm used to argue that this return was necessary. What the manager did slip was that Amazon had not based the decision to telework on data either –taken during the pandemic– and that in his conversations with CEOs of other companies -he did not say which ones, but he did say that there had been between 60 and 80- “virtually all of them” preferred to return to the office.
Jassy noted that “the time for disagreeing has passed” and the time to “commit” has arrived. The executive added that he understands that there are people who do not want to do it, but warned that “things are probably not going to work out” for Amazon employees who are part of this group. “We are going to return to the office at least three days a week and it is not fair for our colleagues to go three days a week and that there are people who refuse to do so,” he concluded.
Already in early August, the technology giant had sent emails to some workers to inform them that they did not go to their jobs with the required frequency, according to CNN.