Amazon to limit promotions for staff who refuse to work in office

Managers told to enforce 'return to work' policy

Amazon is considering threatening people's career prospects in an effort to scare them back to the office, according to news reports.

Tech giant Amazon has instructed managers to consider withholding promotion from staff who refuse to return to the office, after the mass home-working people took up during the Covid-19 pandemic left teams "ineffectual" and its corporate culture in pieces.

The firm told managers to enforce a return-to-work policy it implemented in May in posts on an internal staff platform and intranet, according to reports in CNBC and Business Insider news services. Amazon told CNBC it expected people who were up for promotion to adhere to company policy.

People simply work better together when they were actually together, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said when announcing the policy, for its 350,000 corporate staff to work from the office at least three days-a-week, in February.

"Its easier when we're in the office together most of the time and surrounded by our colleagues. It's especially true for new people," he wrote.

"People tend to be more engaged, observant, and attuned to what's happening. It's easier to ask ad-hoc questions on the way to lunch, in the elevator, or the hallway, it's easier for leaders.

"The energy and riffing on one another's ideas happen more freely," he said.

People often made breakthroughs and made their best inventions in casual meetings, chats and chance encounters, he said. People learned better in person. Casual questions were easier. People were closer to one-another.

Earlier this year, shortly after announcing its new policy, Amazon rejected a petition signed by more than 30,000 staff - nearly 10% of its total corporate workforce - that called for the return-to-office policy to be scrapped.

The petition set out the upsides for employees of working from home, including work-life balance, affordable housing, inclusion, saved time, childcare and environmental factors. It also cited an internal survey that found a preference for remote and flexible work within the company's workforce.