Hundreds of Amazon employees petition CEO to reverse return-to-office policy

More than 500 Amazon employees have reportedly signed a petition demanding that AWS CEO Matt Garman reverses his decision to mandate a five-day office week as part of the cloud computing giant’s return-to-office efforts.

The letter, seen by Reuters, details Garman’s unsupported claims that most workers are on board with the company’s RTO policy.

In the letter, workers express concerns about logistical challenges relating to the stricter policy, including difficulties travelling long distances to work and trouble arranging childcare.

AWS workers hit back at CEO’s RTO policy

A spokesperson for Amazon told Reuters it offers commuter benefits, elder care and subsidized parking rates, among other benefits, to help workers return to the office more permanently. Its current demands are in line with most tech giants – Amazon’s office workers are presently required to be in the office three days per week.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has already spoken out about his support for office-based working, citing productivity benefits and the added support for local economies that travelling brings. A company-wide effort earlier this year warned workers that they should attend the office, relocate or voluntarily resign.

“It’s past the time to disagree and commit… and if you can’t disagree and commit, I also understand that, but it’s probably not going to work out for you at Amazon because we are going back to the office at least three days a week,” Jassy had said.

The ecommerce leader isn’t the only company to be fighting harder for in-person working, however its workers have been among the most vocal, signing in petitions and staging walkouts.

TechRadar Pro has asked Amazon to comment on apparent worker dissatisfaction with the incoming five-day policy, but we did not receive an immediate response.