Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has told employees that they must return to in-person working five days per week, spelling an end to hybrid working at the company.
In a memo, Jassy started workers have until January 2 to make the change, which is a marked difference from the company’s current three day per week policy.
“Before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward — our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances,” his memo read.
‘Bureaucracy Mailbox’
The company has also revealed plans to restructure, aiming for fewer managers in order to ‘remove layers and flatten organizations’, Jassy confirmed. The company’s senior teams will be asked to increase its ratio of contributors to managers by at least 15% by Q1 of 2025.
Under its new CEO, Amazon has slowed its recent expansions somewhat, with the total employee number growing just 5% this year, bringing the total to 1.53 million employees. In comparison, in the second quarter of 2022, the workforce expanded by 14%.
Jassy’s memo highlighted a newly created “bureaucracy mailbox” where employees are encouraged to report any unnecessary processes and bureaucracy that has crept in so that the company can root it out.
“We want to operate like the world’s largest startup.” Jassy explains. “That means having a passion for constantly inventing for customers, strong urgency (for most big opportunities, it’s a race!), high ownership, fast decision-making, scrappiness and frugality, deeply-connected collaboration (you need to be joined at the hip with your teammates when inventing and solving hard problems), and a shared commitment to each other.”
The news comes shortly after big spending elsewhere within Amazon, especially on an enhanced Delivery Service Partner program (DSP), with an investment of $2.1 billion. The DSP hopes to improve efficiency, which is clearly a focus company-wide.
Via CNBC
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