At Amazon, employees who do not follow return to office instructions can be fired

Are the days of remote working definitely over? At Amazon, it seems so. According to the media Insider, the American online commerce giant continues to implement a strict return to the office policy for its employees. It now authorizes its managers to fire employees who do not come to the premises at least three days a week. Information that Insider would have obtained by consulting the new directives communicated internally to the group's managers.

The company announced last February this obligation to be present in the offices at least three days a week. This decision sparked controversy: nearly 30,000 employees signed a petition to oppose these new rules. Many described being hired during the pandemic as remote workers and not understanding this policy shift.

But nothing worked. In July, the group even asked its remote employees to set up near the Amazon sites where their teams work. For those refusing to move, a “voluntary resignation package” was offered. At the start of the school year, Amazon began sending individual attendance records to each employee. A surveillance justified by its spokesperson, Rob Munoz, to Insider: “It’s a way to have more energy, connection and collaboration with the majority of our employees present in the offices more frequently.” The latter also indicated “that exceptions to returning to the office will be handled on a case-by-case basis.”

The new directives provide a precise protocol for employees who show resistance. Concretely, managers are required to follow three steps. First, they must have a meeting with the employee who does not respect the instructions for returning to the office. According to Insider, the company encourages them to adopt a positive attitude. “Executives must emphasize that working together in the same place promotes growth and individual development,” explains Insider.

If the employee still refuses to come, the manager must organize further interviews and, if necessary, take disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. Managers in countries other than the United States are invited to consult their human resources department “because the model for applying this policy varies by country,” Amazon recalls. Giving managers the ability to fire employees who do not comply with these new rules is one of the most drastic measures taken by Amazon. Far from being the only one to adopt such measures, many tech giants impose attendance days on their employees... including the publisher of videoconferencing software Zoom. Symbol of teleworking during Covid, the company now requires its employees living less than 80 kilometers from one of its sites to report to the offices two days a week.