Amazon workers furious over return to office warning: ‘Is this supposed to scare people?’
Amazon sparked fresh outrage among corporate employees after warning some workers that they are “not currently meeting” an “expectation” that they work in an assigned office at least three days per week.
Amazon sent an email on Wednesday to workers who had purportedly failed to comply with the company’s office attendance mandate, which took effect in May.
“We are reaching out as you are not currently meeting our expectation of joining your colleagues in the office at least three days a week, even though your assigned building is ready,” the message said, according to screenshots circulating on the anonymous corporate message board Blind.
The email warning appeared to reignite tensions within the e-commerce giant, with some employees asserting that they had received the message by mistake. Amazon employees had previously staged a walkout to protest the return-to-office push in May.
“Is this supposed to scare people?” one Amazon employee wrote in an internal Slack channel, according to a screenshot seen by Insider.
Another Amazon employee reportedly described the email as “peak absurdity” and argued the messages were sent in error to many workers who were actually complying with the attendance policy.
Others questioned whether the warnings were a sign of additional layoffs to come or an even stricter attendance requirement, according to Insider.
Some workers raised an internal ticket questioning whether the attendance warnings were sent due to a glitch in the system.
In a response to the concerns, Amazon said the RTO email was sent to employees who had badged into their assigned office fewer than three days per week for five or more of the previous eight weeks, or who fell short of the three-day-a-week requirement for three or more of the last four weeks despite their building being ready.
Amazon also admitted that the warnings may have been sent out by mistake in some cases.
“While we’ve taken several steps to ensure this email went to the correct recipients, we recognize that there may be instances where we have it wrong,” the company added. “If you believe that you received this email in error, please reach out to your manager to discuss your situation and ensure it is accurately reflected in the system.”
The attendance warnings are just one element of Amazon’s strict return-to-office push.
Amazon managers have begun telling some employees that they needed to relocate to a central “hub” or leave the company, The Information reported, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Impacted workers reportedly have until Sept. 15 to make a decision on the policy.
The e-commerce giant has already laid off some 27,000 employees since last fall, including a wave of about 9,000 cuts that were announced in March.
