Amazon cracks down on employees who stay away from the office

New York: Amazon.com is cracking down on US workers who have ignored its return-to-office guidelines, in the latest example of companies attempting to reduce the amount of time employees work remotely.

Some US employees at Amazon received an email this week stating that they are not meeting the company’s expectation of spending at least three days a week in the office, according to a copy of the message seen by Bloomberg. The Financial Times reported on the email previously.

Amazon is not the only employer clamping down on those shirking offices in favor of remote work. International Business Machines’ Arvind Krishna said in May promotions will be harder to come by for those who aren’t in the office.

On Monday, Zoom Video Communications, whose video-conferencing software facilitated the switch to remote work during the pandemic, said employees who live near an office must be on-site two days a week. Companies from Chipotle Mexican Grill to BlackRock have also increased the amount of time employees must come into work.

Despite the end of pandemic-era lockdowns, many employees are reluctant to come back to the office full time. Office attendance has stabilized at 30 per cent below pre-pandemic norms, according to a McKinsey Global Institute report last month.

A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment.