Amazon day one free#

That employee has a chronic illness that, in the past, required them to work from home. Others worry about their own health.Īmazon maintains that it has an internal policy for addressing disease transmission, including COVID-19, but the employee said it's not clear to them or other workers what the company plans to do if there are COVID outbreaks, the employee said. Some employees are concerned about finding care for children, family members and pets, said the current employee who works in South Lake Union. Only 14% of respondents supported a three-days-a-week mandate. In an internal survey from 2022, 56% of workers said they preferred to work remotely with in-person meetings just once a month, the petition read. 'The RTO mandate shattered their trust in Amazon's leaders.' In response, more than 22,000 employees signed a petition opposing the change.Įmployees 'planned for a life where their employer wouldn't force them to return,' the petition read, citing statements from executives that supported leaving office decisions up to individual teams. This February, CEO Andy Jassy said the company determined 'we should go back to being in the office together the majority of the time.' Whiteboard brainstorm sessions and elevator conversations had been lost with remote work, he said, and 'riffing off one another's ideas' comes more easily in-person. In a March 2021 note to employees, leaders said they want a 'return to an office-centric culture as our baseline.' In June, they said 'we invent best for customers when we are together in the office.' Through each deadline shift, though, Amazon maintained that it wants its workers to return. In October 2020, it named June 2021 as a return date but walked that deadline back three times in response to employee concerns and upticks in coronavirus cases. 'Amazon did such a great job building such a great neighborhood for people to walk, and that's what we've been missing for three years.'Īmazon has wavered on its office mandates in the past. more people back to the city,' said Kieu Hoang Jorza, who owns two nail salons and a hair salon in South Lake Union, where Amazon has its largest campus.

Amazon day one free#

A sign directed passersby to the Day One tower to grab their free snack and 'Go bananas!' Outside the Spheres, Amazon's community banana stand sat covered in a gray tarp. People in red T-shirts handed out flyers emblazoned with 'Welcome Back, Amazon!' advertising $1 lunches at nearby restaurants. Dogs trotted around Amazon's many pup parks people lined up in front of food trucks parked on Lenora Street trios of Amazon employees wandered around, badges around their necks, takeout containers in hand. On Monday, the first official day of Amazon's mandate, South Lake Union was quiet but not silent.

'Because you sort of poisoned the well already.'

'If you're telling us we're doing this for culture, that's a big misstep,' said one worker who asked to remain anonymous to protect their job.

Not all Amazon workers are sold on the idea. Seattle business leaders and politicians hope the move will kick-start downtown's stalled pandemic recovery, while business owners in the city's South Lake Union neighborhood hope for more foot traffic and sales, from bubble tea to dog treats to manicures. The announcement rattled Seattle, as stakeholders waited to see what an Amazon return would mean for the rest of the city. Starting this week, employees are required to work from the office at least three days a week, a shift from the policy Amazon had in place since 2021 that allowed leaders to decide where their teams would work.