Amazon workers will need to adjust to the 5 days of on-site duty starting next year. Post COVID, a lot of companies including Amazon reconfigured their work pattern. Rather than stay in physical buildings for the weekdays, people worked remotely. This involved working strictly from the comfort of their homes. Some offices packed up their structures. It also made handling businesses less expensive. Employers became zero concerns about office facilities and so on. Many moved to hosting meetings and discussing office matters virtually too. But things are about to be a lot different for Amazon workers.
Amazon Workers To Return To On-Site
Andrew Jassy, Amazon’s CEO recently briefed workers about a looming change. This would involve their physical presence every day of the week. Via a memo shared on the business website, the decision was reached owing to several factors. Having evaluated the working online and in person, the company realized that
“…over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant.”
The CEO emphasized the output of teamwork over the years. So far, teams have been less cooperative. As opposed to showing up to work, they haven’t functioned as well as expected. Probably the lack of work environment makes it more difficult for team members to have a better rapport. The new change for Amazon workers will take effect on January 2, 2025. However, for now, employees are to show up unfailingly for three days.
This rule came to be in February 2023. However, it attracted push back from staff. Amid the 360 change set to begin next year, Jassy explained that everything will go back to pre-COVID-19. The only people allowed to work remotely must have a good enough excuse.
The list would include a person needing to attend to a sick child or any other form of personal emergencies. Meanwhile people who get busy on the road while attending to customers can also have the day off. The next group on the list are employees attending to coding and needing a quiet environment.
The Effect On Employees
Business experts maintained that many have gotten used to the post COVID-19 way of doing this. Now, after four years of enjoying the blessings attached to working virtually, it will upset the balance for people. It will also rid them off of the flexibility. Online workers have found a way to multitask. While at work, they can cater to personal errands and other things. Historian Dror Poleg posits that Amazon’s new design is aimed at cutting down on workers.
He explained that rather than addressing it the harsh way, they prefer to burden the workers. So far, a handful of workers have found a problem with the new policy. They criticized the new order, adding that the situation motivated them less. Other firms emulating Amazon’s move include JP Morgan and Disney. For Disney, workers are to be present for four days in a week. While for JP Morgan, it is a full week stretch.
Final Note
Truthfully, working from home and being present are on the flip sides of the same coin. However, there are advantages and disadvantages. It is left for the business owner and workers to decide on how to explore either. Consequently, an establishment must listen to the concerns of their staff to ensure a smooth partnership between them. This also applies more to the employee.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
