Can't stay 3 days a week, the Amazon CEO was forced to say ruthlessly: If you don't go back to the office, you will leave!
"Do you have to go back to the office for this class?"
Silicon Valley giants, who are always full of hope and vitality, have recently hit a rare problem - how to get employees back to the office.
No, more than half a year after the epidemic, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is still having a headache for this, and not long ago he personally put down his cruel words: "People who don't go back to the office, there is no way out." ('not going to work out for you')"
Source: NewYork Post
The remote work experiment during the epidemic has left tough problems for Silicon Valley manufacturers. Including Musk's X (Twitter), Zuckerberg's Meta and others, remote work has quickly become a scapegoat for the inefficiencies and poor business decisions of big tech companies.
But at the height of the pandemic, it was these companies that boasted that they had shifted to remote and hybrid work models, and productivity and creativity soared. Now, everyone is starting to blame remote work for the loss of productivity.
From imagining the future of remote work to cracking down on the "plot counterattack" of remote work, Amazon seems to be the biggest storm among them.
01 Officially blow the final whistle of "remote work"
In February, Amazon's remote employees received a special notice. Instead of calling them to collect the winning package, the notice ordered them to move bricks in the office:
Amazon announced the introduction of a mandatory three-day return to the office (RTO) policy, requiring employees to return to the office three days a week starting in May.
For purely remote employees who have been working from home, this notification is undoubtedly an internal bomb.
So, what are the options for a purely remote workforce? Classic "one out of three" mode:
The first option is to choose the nearest office to report. I changed from the bedroom to a temporary workstation, and I changed the window view.
The second option is to bravely move to Amazon's home base in Seattle, New York, San Francisco and Virginia.
The last option, well, is the most "desperate", Lao Tzu does not do it!
Of course, Amazon also said that employees who choose to move will also have relocation benefits. The exact location will be decided by the department, and it's unclear how many purely remote employees will have to move because of work.
Source: Business Insider
Perhaps in the eyes of our large factory employees, these options are still within the scope of acceptance, but the reality is that this arrangement is not paid for by Amazon employees.
That's because one of the most controversial aspects of the overall office policy change is that the fully remote position advertised at the time of hiring also required employees to return to the office. For this group of remote employees, it's like taking the wrong toy as a child and having to send it back to the store.
With the launch of RTOs, everyone understands the subtext that Amazon's purely remote jobs may become more and more rare, which also means that in Amazon, "pure remote work" has become a thing of the past.
02 Concerns of the "Dissenting Coalition"
According to foreign media reports, as soon as this policy was introduced, it sparked heated discussions among employees.
On Friday of that week, a group of enthusiastic employees lit the first fire of the RTO rebellion on Slack, and nearly 14,000 employees joined the "dissent coalition." They even drafted a petition sent directly to Iasi and the leadership team to rescind the new policy.
The petition is no joke, and it's full of dissatisfaction with Amazon's position.
They say the new policy runs counter to Amazon's long-standing emphasis on diversity, inclusion, sustainability and the goal of being the "best employer on the planet."
"We, the signatories below, call on Amazon to protect its role and position as a global retail and technology leader, immediately cancel the return-to-office policy, and issue a new policy that allows employees to choose to work remotely or more flexibly if their teams and job roles allow," the petition reads. ”
It's not just a play on words, and employees also cited previous remarks by CEO Jassi Jassi, who emphasized that there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach and praised the benefits of remote work.
The Dissent Alliance noted that many employees had trusted these words, but the new policy had torn the bonds of trust. This is the most plot-reversal scene.
Amazon employees have even roamed the streets to protest the RTO policy | Source: Financial Post
The petition cites internal data showing that a significant portion of employees prefer to work full-time remotely, one day a month in the office, or up to one or two days a week. This not only increases productivity, but also allows the company to save money and retain top talent.
They are also concerned that the return to offline work will affect the balance of employees' lives.
Employees are even questioning why Amazon has to send all employees back to the office. Some employees on global teams may simply go to the office for virtual meetings.
If you categorize all the "objections" or concerns in the "dissenting coalition", there are probably the following categories:
Quality of life concerns: Employees are concerned that the inconvenience of living in Seattle may be related to high rent and other costs, which makes them hesitant to be asked to travel to the office.
Financial burden concerns: Employees are concerned about the impact of Amazon's presence on urban rents, arguing that rising rents due to Amazon may increase their financial stress.
Work-life balance concerns: Some employees suggest leaving Amazon quickly to find a company that offers a better work-life balance, which may reflect the importance they place on their work-life balance.
Employees who are less averse to RTOs believe that returning to the office may provide more opportunities for promotion, a concern related to personal career development and Amazon's internal policies. In addition, employees who are willing to return to the office not only help the company run but also support the city's infrastructure to keep the city running.
In the longer term, some employees believe that the current number of employees willing to work in the office is more than willing to work remotely, and that a new generation of job seekers may be more willing to return to the office, a change that may affect the status of the remote worker – "the most important thing is the direction of the wind." Now that the winds have changed, more employees are willing to go to the office than are willing to work from home. By the time the next generation of fresh graduates are looking for jobs, soon those who are reluctant to go to the office may be replaced. ”
03 Amazon CEO broke defenses
In the face of both online voices and offline demonstrations, Amazon management did not waver in the implementation of the RTO policy, and gradually increased the treatment of employees who were difficult to comply with the RTO.
Last month, Amazon also instituted a policy stating that any employee who does not comply with RTOs and does not receive an exception will be forced to "voluntarily resign." Even then, about 30,000 employees had signed a petition against it.
Perhaps at the top, the uproar may be just a minor chapter in a series of turmoil at Amazon. Right now, the company is in a critical period of cost savings.
Just in January, Amazon announced its largest job cuts in history, with an estimated 18,000 job cuts. At the same time, the company also carried out large-scale project downsizing and closures.
Amazon's number of layoff plans is among the highest among technology companies|Source: Reuters
After all, Amazon is currently facing a severe growth slowdown, and its stock price has fallen by more than 30% in the past year, so it is not difficult to understand Amazon's dedication to RTO policy in the context of cost reduction and efficiency increase.
Of course, high-sounding rhetoric is still necessary. Amazon representatives revealed that since implementing the RTO policy in February, the company has observed increased vitality and more frequent collaboration and connection, so the company will continue to explore ways to bring teams together in the same location and promises to communicate directly with employees on decisions that affect them.
And Amazon isn't the only tech giant that needs to return to the office. Many of its peers, including Apple, Google and Salesforce, are enforcing similar regulations.
Just unexpectedly, foreign media recently dug into more helplessness and tough attitude of high-level officials. Amazon CEO Jassy sent a message to employees who didn't want to return to the office: "This won't work for you." ”
According to Insider, Jassy said employees follow a return-to-office policy or their jobs could be compromised.
Jassy also revealed that he has talked to 60~80 other CEOs about telecommuting, and "almost everyone" prefers to bring employees back to the office. He also cited Amazon's famous leadership principles to tell employees that the era of seeking reasons or complaining is over.
04 Why is telecommuting no longer advocated?
With nearly 1.4 million employees worldwide, Amazon is one of the world's largest employers, so why do such huge tech companies have to go back to the office? Instead of retaining the old, more flexible hybrid system?
In general, companies that place a special emphasis on teamwork and innovation in the same physical space, or have high requirements for oversight and management, security, and confidentiality, do not consider remote work at all, and must have employees in place. Amazon clearly doesn't fall into this category.
Amazon's feedback is to be more efficient.
In a February announcement, Jassy said he and his senior management team, known as the S Team, observed that it was "easier to learn, imitate, practice and strengthen our culture" when in the office with other employees. He thinks it will be easier and more effective to communicate, collaborate, learn and invent face-to-face.
But efficiency, in the absence of solid comparative data to show that Amazon's remote employees are less efficient remotely, are vulnerable. If the game industry is no less efficient and innovative than technology companies, but many independent game companies are completely remote, don't they care about efficiency and innovation?
Amazon must be determined that the benefits of completely shutting down remote work outweigh the disadvantages, and will begin to "change faces". As for the benefits, in addition to the official efficiency theory, some people speculate that it is to force employees to leave their jobs, and some people speculate that the technology workforce has gained a lot of "power" in recent years, which is beginning to make many executives uncomfortable, and executives hope to regain the right to speak by completely eliminating remote to create a sense of crisis.
Amazon isn't the only company that has eaten its laurels when it comes to telecommuting.
The emergence of the epidemic has put the popularity of remote work down the accelerator button, so there is a wider range of social practice, with a wide range of social practice, there will naturally be a success and failure experience.
As a result, people are beginning to realize that remote work, while it brings convenience and flexibility in some ways, is it also starting to raise some questions, is this trend really a perfect solution?
Apparently not. Harvard Business Review's analysis of remote work practices in Silicon Valley argues that successful remote work is based on three core principles: communication, coordination, and culture. Broadly speaking, communication is the ability to exchange information, coordination is the ability to work towards a common goal, and culture is a common set of practices that promote trust and participation. For remote work to be successful, companies (and their internal teams) must create clear processes that support these principles.
It is difficult for a company to maintain a certain percentage of its employees working remotely, requiring not only a well-thought-out strategy, but also almost 100% reliable execution.
But if done well, the rewards can be high: increased productivity, happier employees, cost savings, and so on.
Overall, telecommuting, while bringing some benefits, also raises a series of questions. Companies need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of remote work to find a balance that ensures that employees' collaboration, mental health, and productivity are not compromised.
It's also a reminder that technology can change a lot, but human nature and desires are always the same.
So, whether obsessed with eliminating remote work or sticking with it, every company needs to rethink how it balances virtual and physical, technology and humanity.
Author | Shiina, edited | Zuri
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