Disgruntled Amazon employees are frantically applying for new jobs after Andy Jassy’s RTO mandate

“At first I didn’t quite believe it,” she says Assets. “After all, who expects to get career-changing news from a news article and not from their employer?”

“That’s a pretty terrible way to find out something that’s going to have a huge impact on your life, to be honest. I really would have liked a personal message from my manager, but that didn’t happen for a few days.”

Laura says she was hired virtually during the pandemic with the understanding that there was no expectation of returning to Amazon’s offices.

Until CEO Andy Jassy announced in 2023 that he wanted workers to “spend most of their time together in the office again” – at least three days a week.

“The original RTO mandate was hard to swallow, but the latest one is impossible,” she says.

After the initial shock of the news wore off, Laura felt a sense of calm and clarity: “My months-long battle for three days a week is over and I know that my time at Amazon must end.”

Even if she could commit to commuting to the office full-time, Laura says she would still stop switching to remote work because of Amazon’s lure.

“Honestly, I lost so much trust in Amazon’s leadership at this point,” she adds. “I have updated my resume and portfolio and am eagerly applying for new jobs on LinkedIn.”

Laura is not alone: ​​a handful of Amazon employees told the story Assets that they’re so frustrated with the tech giant’s fight against home working that they’re officially job hunting.

Two say they learned the news – and its impact – through the media, not a nativity scene.

One says they have already handed in their resignation. Another says they received two interview offers within 48 hours of the RTO announcement.

Amazon didn’t respond Fortune’s Please comment.

Is the 5-day mandate a “negotiation game”?

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly warned remote workers that “things won’t work out” for them at the company.

Nevertheless, it is clear that a number of Amazon employees (and managers) have so far ignored the guidelines.

Experts said previously Assets that Amazon’s 5-day mandate is a “negotiation game” to get employees into the office for the 3 days originally requested.

“I didn’t stick to it,” says Ben, who lives three hours from an Amazon office, commenting on the previous hybrid policy.

He briefly considered moving before thinking about it again: “I’ve decided not to make any life decisions because Amazon can fire me at will anyway, and I don’t want to make any long-term changes in my life because some manager decided that I should start going to the office when I…” was set virtually and I was promised that I could work from wherever I wanted.”

Some managers still reassured their new employees that they could work from home after the three-day mandate went into effect.

An employee said Assets that he was hired remotely in May 2023 – a month after the company announced its first RTO policy.

“I left a decent company I live near to join Amazon because they were working from home,” complains Luca, a Millennial analyst. “For me, it’s not that I don’t want to go to the office, there’s no office near me.”

He says his manager arranged for him to be absent from all offices, but that won’t work anymore.

“He told me he couldn’t help, they sent him to an office too,” says Luca, adding that he couldn’t get a clear answer as to whether he was expected to go to the office anyway in the interview room promised otherwise.

“I like my job at Amazon, but I need solid ground to stand on, and they don’t give me that.”

Whether Jassy’s latest move is to make employees show their faces more often or not, workers have until January 2, 2025 (the date he gave them to move if necessary) to call his bluff – or quit.

Most people Assets spoke to believe that Amazon was secretly hoping for the latter anyway.

A thinly disguised workforce reduction

While Jassy positioned Amazon’s changes – which include a flatter hierarchy and no more hot desking – as a better way of working, disgruntled employees insist it is a thinly disguised workforce reduction.

“It is a situation where Peter Paul pays and receives short-term gains from voluntary layoffs in return for the loss of top talent and reduced productivity for years to come.” Gen-X program manager Jared says.

Although he has only been working at Amazon for six months, he has already changed his LinkedIn status to #opentowork, reached out to former colleagues and updated his resume in hopes of finding a more flexible job before January 2nd.

“The new policy is less flexible than pre-COVID and does not take into account employees’ needs to take care of their health, family or work-life balance,” scoffs Jared. “I will not return.”

While he stuck to the three-day rule, he refused to go back to working in a cubicle five days a week while Amazon’s competitors still offer work-from-home options – and he believes many others will do the same .

“As a top performer with previous MAANG (Meta, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) experience in this tight market, I believe it will be fairly easy to find a new role that is at least hybrid,” adds Jared .

“One of my colleagues resigned on Monday. I expect others to follow.”

He’s not wrong. Rumors of a stricter RTO were enough ammunition to convince Ben to quit – he took a “voluntary redundancy” two months ago and has now started his own company.

Likewise, Lisa, a marketing manager in Europe, has completed her four years at Amazon. After hearing about Jassy’s announcement on the news, the 40-year-old said she immediately started reaching out to recruiters.

“This new mandate contradicts so many of the leadership principles that we supposedly hold so dear,” she says, adding that working from home has made her “a top-notch employee year after year.”

“I have always performed well for this company and the reward for that is that they order me back to the office where I sit at my desk and either write documents or answer calls,” adds Lisa. “I don’t want to work for a company that obviously has so little respect for me.”

Every position Lisa has applied for offers hybrid work and she is confident she will find a more flexible employer before the New Year.

Within 48 hours of Amazon’s new policy being released, she had already secured two interviews.

“I will always work hard, but now I want to work for a company that also works hard for me.”

The names of the respondents have been changed for reasons of anonymity.