Amazon Workers Hold Walkout In Seattle Over Objections To Return-To-Work Policy

People watch from inside Amazon's Seattle headquarters as Amazon workers last year protested return to office requirements, among other issues. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

Amazon is going back to the office full-time. The rest of tech is not.

The “world’s largest startup” isn’t acting like one

Rani Molla

9/17/24 10:30AM

In January, Amazon employees will have to go back to the office full time.

In order to “better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other and our culture to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business, we’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID,” CEO Andy Jassy said in a blog post Monday.

That puts the company, long known for its hard-driving and even abusive-seeming work culture, at odds with the rest of the tech industry.

In fact, rather than return to the office, tech companies have been getting more flexible in where people work, according to data from Flex Index, which surveys more than 9,000 firms on their office policies.

In 2024, the majority of tech firms (56%) let employees decide where they’d like to work. Another 23% are fully remote, while 18% are structured-hybrid, meaning employees are required to come in on some days. Only 3% of tech companies require their employees to be in the office full time, representing a decline from 2023.

When Amazon moved to three days in-office last year, the change was met with worker protests, and it’s likely we’ll see more this time. (It also will no doubt cause some workers to leave, which might just be another way for Amazon to cut costs.)

“In the immediate term, Amazon will see a lot of employee pushback and frustration. Employees that don't want to comply will immediately start looking for other opportunities,” Rob Sadow, CEO and co-founder of Flex Index, told Sherwood. “The job market in tech is tepid, but there are a lot of tech companies with more flexible postures who will jump at the opportunity to take talent from Amazon.”

He added, “All else being equal, the average employee will choose to go to a company that offers more flexibility. So Amazon may have to pay more vs. a competitor for the same talent, and will be confined in their hiring to people who live within a reasonable geographic radius of their offices.”

Other tech companies could decide to emulate Amazon, or scoop up the employees the new policies drive away.

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Shares of eBay fell as much as 10.5% in premarket trading on Thursday morning after the company gave a lower-than-expected profit forecast for the important holiday shopping season.

The e-commerce giant reported solid numbers for the third quarter on Wednesday, with revenue up 9% as reported to $2.8 billion and gross merchandise volume rising 10% to $20.1 billion, topping the average analyst forecast of $19.4 billion, per Bloomberg.

However, concerns about the future somewhat overshadowed these results.

eBay outlined its profit outlook for the period ending in December to $1.31 to $1.36 a share, with revenue at $2.83 billion to $2.89 billion. According to Bloomberg-compiled data, this broadly matches Wall Street’s estimates for the top line, but misses on the bottom line, with analysts forecasting EPS to come in at $1.39 — suggesting the company expects some further margin pressure.

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