Amazon Takes Relax Stance On Workers Return To Office

Amazon Inc, took a slightly more relaxed stance on Thursday asking that corporate employees return to the office at least three days a week against its previous position of a return to an “office-centric culture.”

The Seattle-based e-commerce giant stated that it expects office workers in the U.S., the U.K. and several other countries to resume working mostly on-site the week of 7 September according to an email sent to employees Thursday. Workers can seek exemptions to the rules, which have to be approved. Corporate employees would also have the option of working up to four weeks a year fully remote from a domestic location.

“Like all companies and organizations around the world, we’re managing every stage of this pandemic for the first time, learning and evolving as we go,” according to the email.

“We’ve been thinking about how to balance our desire to provide flexibility to work from home with our belief that we invent best for customers when we are together in the office.”

Amazon followed International Business Machines Corp., Facebook Inc, Apple Inc and others in setting a flexible, hybrid model to appease employees who have become accustomed to working from home while also fostering the collaboration and creativity that comes from bringing staff together.

Amazon’s new position, reported earlier in The Seattle Times, may slow the revival of Seattle’s downtown, which has been struggling to rebound from the pandemic while white-collar workers stay away. Amazon is the largest office tenant in the city, with a campus that sprawls through multiple neighborhoods.