Amazon penalizes workers who do not spend enough time in offices
3 Min Read
Amazon has sent an email to employees who have worked fewer than three days per week, for five or more of the previous eight weeks.
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People arrive for work at the Amazon distribution center in New York, on October 25, 2021. (AP)
As tech firms battle back against work-from-home policies that proliferated during the pandemic, an email to staff this week showed that Amazon employees in the US are being tracked and penalized for not spending enough time in the company's offices.
According to emails provided to the Financial Times, some employees were informed on Wednesday that they were "not currently meeting our expectation of joining your colleagues in the office at least three days a week." Additionally, the communications were discussed on the private business bulletin board system Blind.
According to a follow-up email addressed to staff members that Amazon shared with the Guardian, the email was intended to be sent to employees who have worked fewer than three days per week for five or more of the previous eight weeks. Some staff members said they have accidentally received the email, and they were advised to explain their attendance with human resources.
The newest employer to take action to get staff members back to the office is Amazon.
Soon after taking over as CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk started requiring staff to return full-time. In March, Apple started threatening disciplinary action against employees who did not return to the workplace part-time.
Many tech workers were among the workers who were sent home by the epidemic.
The approach is a significant departure from Silicon Valley's heyday, when companies like Google, Meta, and Apple invested billions in the construction of enormous campuses with perks like catered food, laundry facilities, and gym facilities in an effort to retain staff there as much as possible.
Studies have revealed that workers are not interested in returning to that lifestyle; the Morning Consult research found that three in five tech employees do not like working in an office full-time.
Companies that have implemented such restrictions have come under fire; in June, Amazon employees staged a walkout in protest of the return-to-work regulations. According to reports, the most recent communication from Amazon infuriated several workers.
Read: UK almost ‘flying blind’ on Covid this autumn, experts say
One worker asked, "Is this supposed to scare people?" on an internal chat that Insider was given access to.
According to labor rights organizations, forcing workers back to work against their will will only serve to increase the labor movement's rising influence in the tech industry.
"Across its business lines, Amazon imposes a rigid and punitive system of management in an attempt to control and silence workers," said Ryan Gerety, director of the Athena Coalition, adding that "Amazon’s actions will only fuel the efforts of workers who continue organizing for a voice in the workplace."
