Amazon CEO rebukes claim that return-to-office mandate is covert layoff strategy

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy rejected claims made by some staff and analysts that the company’s recently announced return-to-office strategy is a backdoor firing strategy.

During an all-hands meeting Tuesday, Mr. Jassy defended his decision to bring Amazon’s corporate workforce back to the office full-time next year. In his remarks, first published by Reuters, Mr. Jassy said the new policy is in no way a covert way to reduce headcount.

“A number of people I’ve seen theorized that the reason we were doing this is, it’s a backdoor layoff, or we made some deal with the city or cities. I can tell you both of those are not true,” Mr. Jassy reportedly said at the meeting. “You know, this was not a cost play for us.”

Mr. Jassy added that the decision was made to preserve and strengthen Amazon’s internal work culture, which he believed was degraded by the company’s remote work policy.

Amazon announced a change in its remote work policy in September, declaring that all full-time Amazon workers must return to the office five days a week or risk being let go. The rule is set to go into effect on Jan. 2.

Since the announcement, reports suggest that Amazon corporate employees are not altogether happy about the policy change. Amazon employees have enjoyed some level of remote work since the coronavirus pandemic, with most workers spending the majority of their workday at home or out of the office.

Those employees who object to the policy change have made their voices heard in recent weeks, with hundreds of Amazon employees signing a letter to Amazon Work Services head Matt Garman protesting his claims that most workers support the elimination of remote work. In the letter, the employees questioned the merits of the return-to-office policy and criticized Mr. Garman for saying there are “other companies around” for people who don’t want to be in the office full-time.

Others have suggested that the policy is just another way for Amazon and Mr. Jassy to cut costs. On top of consolidating certain departments, Amazon has led the way in tech layoffs, cutting more than 27,000 employees since 2022.