Amazon Allowing Managers to Decide When Corporate Employees Return to Office

A picture shows the Amazon logo at the entrance of the Amazon logistics center in Amiens, northern France, on July 23, 2019. Denis Charlet/AFP via Getty Images

Amazon is allowing company managers to decide when corporate employees return to the office after they began working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company issued updated guidance in a memo to employees on Oct. 11 stating that it was leaving the decision as to when employees return to the office in the hands of the directors of individual teams.

“For our corporate roles, instead of specifying that people work a baseline of three days a week in the office, we’re going to leave this decision up to individual teams. This decision will be made team by team at the Director level,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in the message to employees.

“We expect that there will be teams that continue working mostly remotely, others that will work some combination of remotely and in the office, and still others that will decide customers are best served having the team work mostly in the office.”

“We’re intentionally not prescribing how many days or which days—this is for Directors to determine with their senior leaders and teams. The decisions should be guided by what will be most effective for our customers; and not surprisingly, we will all continue to be evaluated by how we deliver for customers, regardless of where the work is performed,” the message continued.

The technology company noted that it would like most of its staff to be close to their core team, enabling them to travel easily to the office for a meeting within a day’s notice.

As part of the policy change, Amazon will also give corporate employees who can work effectively away from the office the option to work up to four weeks per year fully remotely from any location within the country they’re employed, noting that it wants to support “flexibility.”

Jassy told employees that it will likely take team leaders a few weeks to communicate their plans regarding the updated guidelines with staff going forward, but that he hopes things will be finalized by Jan. 3, which is the date the company set previously for employees to start returning to the office at least three days a week.

Amazon is the latest tech giant to allow employees to continue working remotely. In September, Microsoft told employees that it was delaying indefinitely their return to U.S. offices until it is safer to do so.

Apple, Google, Facebook, and a growing list of others have also extended their work-from-home policies, while Twitter told its workers last year that they can continue to work from home “forever” if they wish to do so.

“If not, our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it’s safe to return,” Twitter said in a statement.