Indian employees walk at the entrance of Amazon's newly inaugurated largest campus building in Hyderabad on August 21, 2019.
Amazon employees continued to voice their opinions on CEO Andy Jassy's newly announced return-to-office order by flooding an internal website with remarks expressing their disapproval of the policy.
In a report by CNBC, a group of employees formed a Slack channel and wrote an internal petition. This opposes the firm's new plans, which compels all tech workers to return to the office for at least three days each week starting on May 1.
Several days after the mandate's announcement, the petition calls on Jassy and Amazon's S-team to reverse the policy.
On Tuesday night, Feb. 21, the organization had garnered 16,000 members. About 5,000 workers had signed the petition.
Related Story: Amazon Drops Work-from-Home Setup, Asks Staff To Come In 3 Times a Week
Employees' Woes
Inside Amazon, the company's internal news feed, saw a flood of comments from disgruntled employees when a tape of Jassy's most recent all-hands meeting was posted there.
According to screenshots seen by CNBC, one said that Amazon had failed its job as the world's top employer by arbitrarily imposing return-to-office without giving facts to back it and despite obvious evidence that it is the worst option for its workers.
Respondents on the internal Slack forum expressed surprise at the news. Many were frustrated that they'd have to find child care, carers for elderly parents, or relocate to commute to work.
One worker stated they had just acquired a vehicle with an annual restriction of 16,000 miles expecting remote work was still possible. If they have to come into the office at least three days a week, they will surpass the said limit.
Some of those who used the company's flexible work policy to migrate outside big cities to obtain cheaper homes are now worried about their commute.
The petition not only expresses their displeasure with the requirement. It also provides a variety of statistics and studies praising remote work and its advantages, such as increased productivity and the capacity to recruit and keep the best employees.
Shift in Work Setup
Traditionally, Amazon allowed supervisors some leeway in determining how frequently their staff needed to be physically present in the office. Even while Amazon is still in its period of experimenting, learning, and adapting, Jassy has already embraced remote and hybrid work.
A week ago, Jassy saw that there would be obstacles to re-inviting workers to the office.
As the Covid outbreak subsides, some tech firms have resumed traditional methods of doing business, including face-to-face meetings and employee interactions.
Certain staff at Google and Apple have been compelled to return to the office since last year. Disney's hybrid workers have been expected to be in the office four days a week since January.
See Also: Amazon Web Services Expands Partnership with Hugging Face, Making AI More Accessible
