Amazon is bucking the trend among many tech companies, telling US employees they should expect to be back in the office by early fall.
Many companies are making remote work part of their permanent culture. In many cases, with the majority of their workforce operating remotely, this has led to selling or renting out prime real estate. Even outside of the tech industry, companies are embracing the trend, with Ford recently announcing 30,000 of its employees would be able to work remotely on a permanent basis.
Amazon appears to be going in the opposite direction, according to a memo to employees.
Our plan is to return to an office-centric culture as our baseline. We believe it enables us to invent, collaborate, and learn together most effectively.
The timelines for returning to the office will vary by country, depending on the infection and vaccination rates, and we expect our return to the office to be gradual. In many parts of Asia, our employees are already back in the office. In the U.S., as vaccines become broadly available in the next few months, we expect more people will start coming into the office through the summer, with most back in the office by early fall. In some countries in Europe, we expect in-person working to take longer given recent setbacks. As we get closer to the summer, we’ll develop more country-specific plans and post all updates to Inside Amazon under Local News.