Amazon CEO denies full in-office mandate is ‘backdoor layoff’

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said at an all-hands meeting on Tuesday that the plan to require employees to be in-office five days per week is not meant to force attrition or satisfy city leaders, as many employees have suggested.

The controversial plan mandating workers come to Amazon offices every day starting next year, up from three days now, has caused consternation among employees who say it is stricter than other tech companies and will hinder efficiency because of commuting times.

Workers who are consistently not in compliance have been told they will be “voluntarily resigning” and locked out of company computers.

“A number of people I’ve seen theorized that the reason we were doing this is, it’s a backdoor layoff, or we made some sort of deal with city or cities,” said Jassy, according to a transcript of the meeting reviewed by Reuters.

“I can tell you both of those are not true. You know, this was not a cost play for us. This is very much about our culture and strengthening our culture,” he said.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.

Last month Matt Garman, the CEO of cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services, suggested that workers who did not want to comply with the full in-office requirement could leave for another company and said that nine of 10 employees he had spoken with supported the change.

That prompted a letter signed by more than 500 Amazon employees imploring Garman to revise the policy, noting the company had operated well fully remote and that the new rule would impact employees with families or medical challenges more than others.

“We were appalled to hear the non-data-driven explanation you gave for Amazon imposing a five-day in-office mandate,” according to the letter.

Amazon said in response at the time that it is providing commuter benefits and subsidized parking rates, among other things, to help with its return-to-office policy.

“It is an adjustment,” said Jassy on Tuesday. “I understand that for a lot of people, and we’re going to be working through that adjustment together.”