A top Amazon executive defended the company’s controversial new policy to come to the office five business days a week, saying Thursday that those who don’t support the measure can go to another company.
At an all-hands meeting at AWS, the unit’s chief executive, Matt Garman, said that nine out of 10 employees he spoke to support the new policy, which takes effect in January, according to a transcript reviewed by Reuters. Those who don’t want to comply can resign, he said.
“If there are people who just don’t work well in this environment and don’t want to, that’s okay, there are other companies out there,” Garman said.
READ MORE: Amazon orders workers to return to the office 5 days a week from January
The policy has upset many Amazon employees, who say it wastes time commuting and that the benefits of working in the office are not supported by independent data.
Amazon has been enforcing a three-day policy in the office, but its chief executive, Andy Jassy, said last month that the company would extend the measure to five days in order to “invent, collaborate and stay connected”.
Some employees who were previously disinclined to comply were told they were “voluntarily resigning” and were locked out of company systems.
Amazon, the world’s second-largest private employer behind Walmart, has taken a tougher stance on returning to the office compared to many of its technology peers, such as Google, Meta and Microsoft, which have two-pronged policies. three days of presence in the office.
“I’m actually quite excited about this change,” Garman said. “I know not everyone is,” he said, noting that it is very difficult to meet company goals with just the current three mandatory days of in-person work.
An Amazon spokesperson had no immediate comment.
(Reporting by Greg Bensinger)
