The backlash against Amazon's return-to-office mandate has entered a new phase.
About 3 weeks after the announcement of the new policy, more than 29,200 Amazon employees signed an internal petition opposing the mandate. That's close to 10% of the company's total corporate workforce.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced on February 17 that most office workers will be required to come to the office at least three times a week starting in May.
The petition is being led by a group of Amazon staff in an internal Slack channel, called "remote advocacy," as Insider previously reported. Roughly 30,000 Amazon employees have joined that Slack channel, which was created shortly after the RTO announcement.
Amazon's spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment.
The growing support for the petition shows the testy nature of forcing employees back to the office, following three years of pandemic-driven remote work.
In the petition, Amazon employees added internal data supporting continued remote work and dozens of comments explaining why they oppose the change.
A companywide survey from last year, for example, showed an overwhelming 87% of employees preferring 1 to 2 days per week or less time in the office, with the rest choosing mostly in-office work. Remote work trumped in-office work across most areas, including "ability to focus," "productivity," and "innovation/creativity," among others, the survey results showed.
Some of the employee testimony in the petition included remote work's effectiveness in childcare, climate gains, and time saved from commuting. The lack of transparency and data from Amazon to support the change upset many employees, with some saying they'll have to start looking for a new job because of this.
"The RTO approach will cause many others like me to be left with no option other than to find new employment," one of the staffers wrote in the petition.
"Let's see the data, as we are always asked for the data to support our ideas," another wrote.
Not everyone at Amazon is against the return to the office. Hundreds of Amazon employees joined a separate Slack channel last month that supports the company's new RTO policy, as Insider previously reported. A high-profile Amazon VP also told employees in the remote advocacy Slack channel to be patient and wait for more details. Jassy said at the time of the announcement that details have not been fully ironed out and small exceptions would be made.
Here is the full copy of the petition against the new RTO policy:
Andy Jassy and S-Team:
On February 17th, Andy Jassy announced a new "Return To Office" (RTO) policy that requires corporate employees to work in an Amazon office at least three days per week beginning on May 1st. Released shortly after the All-Hands, the announcement was quietly published as an Inside Amazon story with‐ out data or feedback mechanisms. We, the undersigned Amazonians, are responding by petitioning for the right to choose where to work, including remote locations, and presenting the data case against RTO.
The RTO runs contrary to many of Amazon Leadership Principles; Amazon's published positions on inclusion, affordable housing, and climate change/sustainability; and credible research on re‐ mote work benefits, detailed below. RTO contradicts Amazon's and Jassy's previous statements on re‐ mote work. These include: "there is no one-size-fits-all approach for how every team works best," and "[t]eams understand how they work best, and leaders will be intentional and thoughtful about how often they believe the team needs to be together to collaborate and get the best overall results for customers". Many employees trusted these statements and planned for a life where their employer wouldn't force them to return to work in the office. The RTO mandate shattered their trust in Amazon's leaders, and puts an unfair burden on their shoulders to make significant and unexpected adjustments, some of which may in fact be nearly impossible.
Amazon's own data underscores the preference for remote and flexible work within Amazon's workforce. In the 2022 Tech Survey, when employees were asked "How many days per month would you ideally like to work in the office?" 56% indicated their preference is for remote work with monthly sync-ups in the office at most, and 31% said they would like to go in the office 1-2 days per week. This is in sharp contrast and direct contradiction with the announced mandate of 3 days a week or more working from the office, which only 14% of respondents supported. Moreover, when asked to compare their in-office experience against work from home experience:
93% of the respondents rated their ability to focus when working from home as Good or better vs 68% when working from the office.
77% rated their productivity as Good or better when working from home vs 72% when working from the office.
86% rated their innovation and creativity level as Good or better when working from home vs 74% when working from the office.
Finally, there is a large body of research indicating how an RTO policy is detrimental for Amazon em‐ ployees, Amazon's business, and ultimately Amazon investors and customers for the following reasons:
1. Remote work increases worker productivity.
a. A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that the average U.S. worker saves 72 minutes a day by working from home, 40% of which goes into working more.
b. A 2013 Stanford University study of Chinese workers found that remote workers are 13% more productive than their in-office counterparts.
c. Airtasker, a remote work service company, found remote workers put in an average of 1.4 more days of work per month than their office-based counterparts, leading to faster response times and better service for customers.
d. Another industry survey by CoSo Cloud found that 77% of remote workers reported greater productivity while working from home.
e. Remote work during the pandemic led to employees working on average 2.5 extra hours daily.
f. Many teams are globally distributed, which means employees will go into the office for Chime calls with their teammates, and do not have a coworker in their local office. The commute time will reduce their ability to have calls with international colleagues outside their working window.
2. Workers prefer location choice.
a. According to a report by FlexJobs, the number of people working remotely in the US has increased by 159% since 2005.
b. A survey by Buffer found that 98% of remote workers would like to work remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their careers.
c. In Amazon's 2022 Tech Survey, only 14% of respondents said they want to work more than 2 days a week in the office.
d. A 2021 global study by McKinsey shows 53% of employees prefer at least 3 days working from home, and 29% of employees are likely to switch jobs if work returns to fully on-site.
3. Remote work allows us to Hire and Develop the Best. Within the past two years, Jassy said, "We can attract and retain top talent who may otherwise be unable to work in an office environment due to personal or logistical reasons." Eliminating this option will limit Amazon's ability to attract and retain top talent.
a. According to a survey from FlexJobs, where over 2,000 professionals were polled in February and March of 2022, a lack of remote work options was indicated by 43% of the respondents as a reason to leave their current job.
b. In another FlexJobs survey of 4,000 workers, researchers found that "65% of respondents report wanting to work remotely full-time, while 32% want a hybrid work environment. That's an astounding 97% of workers who desire some form of remote work".
c. Zillow, which switched to a work-from-anywhere model, claims 4x more candidates per position versus 2019 levels. Additionally, CEO Rich Barton said the company's voluntary attrition "declined steadily across the organization," decreasing by more than half.
4. Remote work saves money for Amazon and Amazonians.
a. A 2007 paper showed how remote work reduced expenses for employers (e.g. by reducing building maintenance cost) and employees (e.g. by cutting commuting costs).
b. According to a study by Global Workplace Analytics, employers can save an average of $11,000 per half-time remote worker per year.
c. Another survey by FlexJobs found that 77% of respondents reported lower stress levels when working remotely, which can lead to lower healthcare costs for the company.
d. Based on calculations provided along with this document, if 25% of the total headcount of Seattle corporate employees idle their engines for 30 minutes per day while commuting to the office, at current gas rates, employees will spend an additional $98,003.25 per week.
5. Remote work improves work-life balance.
a. Amazon's 2022 Tech Survey shows that only 59% of the respondents thought their work/life harmony was at least Good when working from the office, in comparison to 82% when working from home.
b. A paper published in 2019 shows how remote workers have a better work-life balance, lower family conflicts, and lower job-related stress.
c. A study by Owl Labs found that remote workers reported a better work-life balance than their in-office counterparts.
d. A mental health website called Tracking Happiness found in a 2022 survey of over 12,000 workers that fully remote employees report a happiness level about 20% greater than office-centric ones.
e. According to a Gallup survey in late 2021, over 70% of respondents said that, compared to in-office work, hybrid work improves work-life balance and 58% report less burnout.
6. In-office work impacts parents, marginalized communities and people with disabilities. A company striving to be "Earth's Best Employer" should adopt and maintain inclusive policies and allow for work flexibility, following multiple recent reports that highlight how remote work positively impacts parents, minorities and people with disabilities.
a. A study from the nonprofit Catalyst on 7,487 employees found that for "women with child care-giving responsibilities who have remote-work access, the probability of being likely to look for another job in the next year decreases by 32%".
b. An analysis by the Economic Innovation Group shows that "the employment rate for people with disabilities has far surpassed its pre-pandemic level and is now the highest it has been since at least the Great Recession".
c. Meta, analyzing the impact of remote work, found out that "US candidates who accepted remote job offers were substantially more likely to be Black, Hispanic, Native American, Alaskan Native, Pacific Islander, veterans and/or people with disabilities".
7. Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The RTO announcement did not address COVID-19 as an ongoing pandemic, or precautions around mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in the offices. Many employees are concerned about the increased risk of COVID-19 infections, spreading COVID to their families, and long COVID associated with returning to an office environment.
a. COVID rates remain high in all countries where Amazon has offices established. Due to a lack of masking and vaccination policies in all of these locations, the risk of infection is increased in the close, ongoing quarters of offices. This not only puts Amazonians who are immunocompromised at increased risk at risk, but also anyone whom they live with or interact with on a regular basis.
b. The CDC recommends increasing space and distance to reduce the risk of exposure and spreading of COVID-19, especially in regions that have medium or high COVID-19 Community Levels. This is extremely difficult to attain in crowded, open offices such as those at Amazon.
c. It's estimated that 8 million to 23 million Americans suffer from long COVID. Research into long COVID continues, and there are few reliable indicators about who may be at elevated risk to contract long COVID. These effects can have significant impacts on the personal and professional lives of those who catch it.
i. A 2022 survey by the Kessler Foundation of nearly 3,800 managers found that 40% of them had employees with lasting physical or mental effects of a COVID-19 infection, and that 58% of those managers said the employees had received workplace accommodations.
ii. According to a survey of the medical records of 150,000 United States veterans who survived for at least 30 days after contracting COVID saw a significant increase in their risk for several heart problems, regardless of age or preexisting conditions.
iii. Several studies indicate significant long term impacts to the cognitive health of those suffering from long COVID, including increased depression and PTSD rates and impaired cellular metabolism.
iv. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers long COVID to be a disability under the ADA, Section 504, and Section 1557, consisting of physical and mental impairments including but not limited to; lung, heart, and kidney damage, neurological damage, and lingering emotional illness.
We, the undersigned, call for Amazon/AWS to protect its role and status as a global retail and tech leader by immediately reversing the RTO policy and issuing a new policy that allows employees to work remotely or more flexibly, as their team and job role permits. We ask Amazon/AWS leadership to up‐ hold Amazon's mission to be Earth's Best Employer by creating working policies that increase equity and inclusion for all employees.