Amazon CEO makes it clear: Employees return to office 5 days a week

• Amazon called; they want you, the employees back in the office, for 5 days a week, just like it was pre-pandemic!
• CEO Andy Jassy announces full-time office return starting January 2, 2025, along with a major management reshuffle.
• Here’s what you need to know.

Amazon’s back to the office mandate

In a recent company-wide memo, Andy Jassy reflected on the impressive progress Amazon has made across its diverse business verticals… And delivered a piece of shocking news to the employees.

Amazon is resuming its pre-pandemic office work structure where employees will be expected to return to the office five days a week.

Andy Jassy,

“When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant.”

But why? 

This decision, Jassy explains, stems from the belief that being physically present in the office provides significant advantages for teamwork and innovation.

Since the company introduced a three-day-a-week in-office mandate 15 months ago, Jassy and the s-team (senior leadership) have observed improvements in collaboration, learning, and cultural connection.

He believes that working together in the office fosters stronger ties among employees, encourages brainstorming, and ultimately benefits customers.

When will the employees be asked to join?

Starting January 2, 2025, all employees will be required to work from the office, unless they have an approved Remote Work Exception or face exceptional circumstances.

Jassy acknowledges that some employees may have structured their personal lives around remote work and assures the team that the company is providing a transition period to allow for adjustments.

Exceptions for the employees

If an employee or their child was ill, faced a home emergency, was traveling for business, or needed more time to finish coding in a quieter environment, remote work was previously accommodated.

This understanding will continue.

Additionally, those with an approved Remote Work Exception from their s-team leader will also be exempt.

Reducing management layers

In addition to the back-to-office mandate, Jassy also highlighted the need to restructure Amazon’s management layers.

As the company grew, it added more managers and layers, which, according to Jassy, has the potential to slow down decision-making and create unnecessary processes—such as pre-meetings for pre-meetings.

To address this, Amazon plans to flatten its organizational structure by increasing the ratio of individual contributors to managers by 15% by the end of Q1 2025.

Andy Jassy’s tenure at Amazon

Andy Jassy joined Amazon in 1997 shortly after graduating from Harvard Business School.

He was promoted to President and CEO in July 2021.

Andy Jassy writes:

“When I think about my time at Amazon, I never imagined I’d be at the company for 27 years.

My plan (which my wife and I agreed to on a bar napkin in 1997) was to be here a few years and move back to NYC.

Part of why I’ve stayed has been the unprecedented growth (we had $15M of annual revenue the year before I joined—this year should be well north of $600B)”

The CEO concludes

Jassy remains confident that this shift back to the office will help Amazon achieve its goals of stronger collaboration and faster decision-making.

As he points out, Amazon thrives when employees are “joined at the hip with their teammates when inventing and solving hard problems.”

In his closing remarks, Jassy reaffirms his commitment to Amazon’s culture and emphasizes that these changes are essential for continuing to make customers’ lives easier and better.

Is it fair for Amazon to ask its employees to return to the office after working remotely for so long?