Amazon Cloud CEO Matt Garman to employees in all-hands meeting: I don’t mean that in a bad way, but there are …

Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman addressed the five-day work from office policy at the company’s recent all-hands meeting. The Return to Office (RTO) policy by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in September makes 5-day work from office mandatory for most employees, starting January 2025. Reports suggest that some employees are unhappy with the policy. Amazon Web Services or AWS is the Cloud division of Amazon.

Those who disagree with Amazon’s RTO policy can seek jobs elsewhere

AWS CEO Garman doubled down on the company’s RTO decision to mandate a five-day return-to-office policy. During the all-hands meeting, Garman told employees that remote work hinders innovation and collaboration, and those who disagree are encouraged to seek employment elsewhere.
The policy has reportedly sparked significant backlash among Amazon employees, many of whom have expressed concerns about work-life balance, commuting costs, and the potential for decreased productivity. However, Garman remains steadfast in his belief that in-person interactions are essential for fostering a strong company culture and driving innovation.
“When we want to innovate, when we want to really, really innovate on interesting products, I have not seen an ability for us to do that when we’re not in-person,” Garman stated. “And so if there are people who just don’t work well in that environment and don’t want to, that’s OK. There are other companies around.” “I don’t mean that in a bad way,” Garman continued. “There are other places, but at Amazon, we want to be in an environment where we are working together.”

Overall mandate is for employees to be physically present in office 5 days a week

Garman emphasized that while there will be some flexibility for remote work, such as for attending customer meetings or external events, the overall expectation is for employees to be physically present in the office five days a week. He argued that this in-person requirement is crucial for rebuilding the pre-pandemic office culture, characterized by healthy debates, brainstorming sessions, and strong team bonds.
The CEO also highlighted how Amazon’s Leadership Principles and culture have helped drive growth and make the company “special” and that those principles can only be experienced in person.
Despite the growing number of tech companies adopting more flexible work arrangements, Amazon’s decision to enforce a strict return-to-office policy sets it apart from many of its peers.