‘Probably Not Going to Work Out for You:’ Amazon CEO Plays Bad Cop over Return to Office Mandate

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has unequivocally told employees that non-compliance with the company’s return-to-office mandate “is probably not going to work out for you.”

Business Insider reports that in a recent internal meeting, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy made it abundantly clear that employees who do not adhere to the company’s return-to-office policy should consider other employment options. “It’s past the time to disagree and commit,” Jassy said during the meeting. “And if you can’t disagree and commit, it’s probably not going to work out for you at Amazon.”

Jeff Bezos (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

The directive requires Amazon employees to be in the office at least three days a week. This policy took effect on May 1, despite significant pushback from the workforce. In March, approximately 30,000 Amazon workers signed a petition urging Jassy to rescind the mandate. However, the CEO stood firm on his decision, stating that employees who are not willing to comply should “seek employment elsewhere.”

As Breitbart News previously reported:

Amazon tech employees reportedly wrote an internal petition and started a Slack channel to protest the requirement. Just days after it was announced, employees are urging Jassy and Amazon’s leadership group, known as the S-team, to abandon the mandate. Since then, 16,000 people have joined the group, and as of Tuesday night, 5,000 workers had signed the petition.

An audio recording of Jassy’s most recent all-hands meeting was the subject of numerous comments on the e-commerce giant’s internal news feed for staff members, Inside Amazon. One screenshot of a comment seen by CNBC stated: “By arbitrarily forcing return-to-office without providing data to support it and despite clear evidence that it is the wrong decision for employees, Amazon has failed its role as Earth’s best employer. I believe this decision will be detrimental to our business and is antithetical to how we make decisions at Amazon.”

During the session, known internally as a “fishbowl” meeting, Jassy stood firm in his decision not to reveal the information that influenced his return-to-office ruling. Instead, he described the decision as a “judgment call,” leaving many employees curious about the rationale behind the policy.

Jassy also revealed that he had consulted with numerous other CEOs and found that “virtually all of them” preferred having their employees back in the office. He further stated that Amazon employees who refused to relocate near their team’s main offices would have to either find a new job within the company or opt for “voluntary resignation.”

Read more at Business Insider here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan

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