At a meeting, CEO Andy Jassy is said to have used less subtle words to make it clear to employees that Amazon is serious about reducing teleworking.

Amazon employees who continue to refuse to return to the office at least three days a week could fear for their jobs. Jassy made this clear in a meeting earlier this month, transcripts of which Business Insider was able to listen to.

labor dispute

The American company has been trying to strictly limit teleworking for several months and seems ready to take off the soft gloves. Jassy was clear: If you don’t come back to the office for work, things won’t work out between you and Amazon.

The decision isn’t supported by data on remote work versus office work, but according to Jassy, ​​it’s her own judgement. In his opinion, disagreements must be done and it is time for a commitment. If you can’t afford it, you should start looking for a new job.

There have been disputes between Amazon employees and their managers for some time. A petition to keep remote working has been signed by more than 30,000 people, but Amazon ignored them. The company, meanwhile, is threatening that employees will involuntarily quit and move others to a distant new job.

Jassy argued that Amazon also didn’t rely on data when it rolled out teleworking during major Covid lockdowns. This is of course not a convincing argument. He also claims he has spoken to dozens of CEOs from other companies, all of whom agree with him about returning to the office. The old “but they do it too” argument.

In fact, Amazon isn’t the only company that would prefer to gradually phase out teleworking, Zoom also wants its employees to return. Maybe it would be different if they were Belgian companies. Belgium recently proved to be the safest country in Europe for teleworking.