He also said Amazon wants to “operate like the world’s largest startup”, and that means being “joined at the hip with your teammates when inventing and solving hard problems”.
Other companies known for their “hustle culture”, such as Bytedance – the parent company of TikTok – already require employees to work from the office every day, said Mr Ethan Ang, co-founder of tech talent platform Nodeflair.
However, not all experts agree.
Amazon’s move is “quite surprising” as it goes against the trend of hybrid work becoming normalised, said Mr Sachet Sethi, senior manager of tech and transformation at headhunting firm Robert Walters Singapore.
A full return to the office will make it difficult to recruit and retain talent. It can also affect the number of productive hours employees have, as some may have to commute long distances, tiring themselves out, he said.
Employees will feel that the management does not trust them and is micromanaging them. Having to be in the office every day could also cause them to feel tired or burnt out, said Mr Sethi.
In an interview with the Guardian, one of the world’s leading experts on workplace organisation, health and well-being called employers who force staff to return to the office five days a week the “dinosaurs of our age”.
“If you value and trust people to get on with their job, and give them autonomy – and flexible work is one of those – they’ll work better, you’ll retain them and they will be less likely to have a stress-related illness,” said Professor Cary Cooper, who is known for coining the term “presenteeism”.
“If you micromanage, you won’t get productivity gains, and you won’t attract the next generation.”
One of the Amazon employees CNA spoke to said that as many had joined the company during the pandemic, this hybrid work model has been all they have known and the change would take getting used to.
But she also pointed out that it is a “privilege” to have the option of working from home.
“I didn’t sign up for the job because it was hybrid,” she said.
“Obviously (the change) would disturb my lifestyle, it would disturb some of the things I used to do but I’ll just take it and handle it along the way. If it really becomes such a pain point, I’ll just find another job that offers flexibility.”
IMPACT ON EMPLOYEES AND RETENTION
Mr Jassy said that to accommodate the lifestyle changes necessary, the new policy would start on Jan 2 next year.
However, the employee CNA spoke to said the lead time to make changes is “quite short” given that many have built a lifestyle around hybrid work.
This could be “very, very disruptive”, in particular for those whose schedules incorporate personal commitments, he said.
Nodeflair’s Mr Ang said that while salary and job scope are still the most important factors when choosing an employer, the platform’s data suggests that about 70 per cent of employees treat hybrid work arrangements as “non-negotiable”.
