Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, has put to rest the chit-chats surrounding the five-day-a-week in-office work policy that the company has just rolled out, claiming this is not an agenda to work out the staff size or satisfy the city managers requests. In an all-staff gathering held on Tuesday, Jassy dismissed the notion that the decree was a euphemism for downsizing the workforce, stressing that such claims were baseless.

Beginning in September, the Amazon work culture underwent some notable changes with a new policy that called on corporate office employees to report to the office a minimum of five days a week, effectively eliminating the hybrid model where a worker could remain at home for half of the week. Employees have been informed that the period for adherence to the new requirement will lapse on January 2, 2024. Although some employees have refused the policy, contending that this remote or hybrid work structure is equally productive, Jassy asserts that this policy comes as the company’s effort towards building their culture and promoting teamwork instead of being implemented to cut costs.

We are not engaging in this activity for the purpose of saving money,” Jassy articulated in the course of the meeting, emphasizing that this particular policy is based on the company’s philosophy that workers will be more effective in dealing with customers if they spend some time together in physical space. He stated that this strategy is a question of helping Amazon innovate and win in the competition.

Though the reassurances to the staff have been issued by Jassy, the implementation of the policy has been met with significant backlash especially from the employees of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Just last week, approximately 500 AWS employees penned a letter addressed to the upper management where they articulated that the enforcement of the mandate should be rethought because it infringes, among other things, on work-life balance and flexibility. Other members of staff have also complained about other things such as the issue of disability and the fact that the new policy sucks so much time due to commuting.

Jassy recognized the alteration that employees will have to undergo and also understood why some of them have concerns. “We are going to work through that adjustment together,” he said.