Amazon reportedly is getting stricter with its return to office policy. According to a report in Insider, the company is now “giving managers leeway to effectively fire employees who fail to meet the company’s three-times-a-week, return-to-office mandate.” This is reportedly as per the updated global manager guidance on Amazon’s return-to-office policy obtained by the publication. Amazon is said to have shared the guidelines and manager talking points through an internal portal earlier this week. Amazon requires most employees to come into the office 3 times a week.
Allowing managers to fire employees for non-compliance with its return-to-office policy is the strongest measure that Amazon has taken so far. To make things clear the policy does not ask for immediate termination of the employees for not coming to office. As per the guidelines, managers are asked to follow a three-step process when dealing with an employee not meeting the return-to-office requirements.
Managers told to follow these three steps
In the first step, managers are asked to hold a private conversation with employees who don’t comply with the three-times-a-week requirement. Managers have to document this discussion in a follow-up email. If non compliance continues and the employee refuses to come to office, the manager should hold another meeting. “If the employee does not demonstrate immediate and sustained attendance after the first conversation, managers should then conduct a follow-up discussion within a reasonable time frame (depending on the employee situation, ~1-2 weeks). This conversation will 1) reinforce that return to office 3+ days a week is a requirement of their job, and 2) explain that continued non-compliance without a legitimate reason may lead to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of your employment,” the guidelines said.
The last step is to engage a human resources representative who may give the employee a written warning or other actions, which may “ultimately conclude in termination of employment,” as per the updated guidelines.
Amazon announced in February that corporate employees would have to come into the office at least three times a week starting in May. Later in July, the company doubled down by telling remote employees to relocate near office “hubs” where most of their team members are. Those who refused to relocate or find another team that accommodated their needs were told to take a “voluntary resignation” package. Last month (September), Amazon was sharing individual attendance records with employees, a shift from the previous policy of only tracking anonymized data.
Allowing managers to fire employees for non-compliance with its return-to-office policy is the strongest measure that Amazon has taken so far. To make things clear the policy does not ask for immediate termination of the employees for not coming to office. As per the guidelines, managers are asked to follow a three-step process when dealing with an employee not meeting the return-to-office requirements.
Managers told to follow these three steps
In the first step, managers are asked to hold a private conversation with employees who don’t comply with the three-times-a-week requirement. Managers have to document this discussion in a follow-up email. If non compliance continues and the employee refuses to come to office, the manager should hold another meeting. “If the employee does not demonstrate immediate and sustained attendance after the first conversation, managers should then conduct a follow-up discussion within a reasonable time frame (depending on the employee situation, ~1-2 weeks). This conversation will 1) reinforce that return to office 3+ days a week is a requirement of their job, and 2) explain that continued non-compliance without a legitimate reason may lead to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of your employment,” the guidelines said.
The last step is to engage a human resources representative who may give the employee a written warning or other actions, which may “ultimately conclude in termination of employment,” as per the updated guidelines.
Amazon announced in February that corporate employees would have to come into the office at least three times a week starting in May. Later in July, the company doubled down by telling remote employees to relocate near office “hubs” where most of their team members are. Those who refused to relocate or find another team that accommodated their needs were told to take a “voluntary resignation” package. Last month (September), Amazon was sharing individual attendance records with employees, a shift from the previous policy of only tracking anonymized data.
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