Amazon is now requiring its corporate employees to return to the office five days a week, a decision CEO Andy Jassy believes will enable the company to “function like the world’s largest startup.
“The s-team and I continue to view strengthening our culture as our top goal. And I worry about it all the time,” Jassy wrote in today’s staff memo.
“We aspire to operate like the world’s largest startup. This involves maintaining a passion for continuously innovating for our customers, having a sense of urgency (most big opportunities feel like a race!), fostering strong ownership, making swift decisions, being resourceful and frugal, engaging in deeply connected collaboration (it’s essential to be in sync with your teammates when creating and tackling tough challenges), and nurturing a shared commitment to one another,” Jassy explained.
To foster greater innovation and collaboration, Jassy announced that Amazon will “return to in-office work as we did before the COVID-19 pandemic,” with this shift officially starting on January 2, 2025.
In addition, Jassy mentioned that Amazon plans to streamline its corporate structure by reducing the number of managers, aiming to create a flatter organization.
Jassy: How Working from the Office Brings ‘Significant’ Benefits
Currently, Amazon requires employees to spend at least three days in the office per week, with the option to work from home for the remaining two days.
The past 15 months of spending at least three days a week in the office have strengthened our confidence in the advantages,” Jassy stated.
The CEO emphasized that the “advantages of working together in the office are substantial.”
We’ve observed that it becomes easier for our team members to learn, embody, and enhance our culture; collaboration, brainstorming, and innovation are more efficient and effective; knowledge-sharing is more fluid, and teams tend to grow more closely connected,” Jassy noted.
Reflecting on his own journey, Jassy shared that when he joined Amazon 27 years ago, he didn’t plan on staying long at the Seattle headquarters.
However, he acknowledged, “The primary reason I’ve stayed is because of our culture.
Focusing on our customers is certainly inspiring, but it’s also about the people we work alongside, how we collaborate and innovate when we’re at our best, our long-term outlook, the sense of ownership I’ve always felt at every level (starting as a Level 5), the speed with which we make decisions and act, and the absence of bureaucracy and politics,” Jassy explained.
Returning to the Office ‘Will Require Some Adjustments’ for Employees
Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, acknowledged that the company’s new policy of requiring employees to return to the office five days a week “will require some adjustments” for those who have structured their personal lives around remote work.
To facilitate a smoother transition, Jassy is allowing employees until January 2, 2025, before the policy officially takes effect.
“With a company of our size and complexity, implementing this change won’t be easy. It will challenge our collective ability to innovate and simplify as we reorganize and pursue the significant opportunities across all our businesses,” Jassy noted.
In closing, Jassy expressed his optimism about the upcoming changes to the office structure.
“I think these adjustments will help us achieve these objectives more successfully while enhancing our team’s performance and culture,” he remarked.
