Over 500 Amazon Web Services (AWS) workers have written a public letter to CEO Matt Garman, expressing their disagreement with his recent support for the company’s return-to-office (RTO) rule.
Garman caused a stir during a company-wide meeting when he said that nine out of ten employees he talked to were “thrilled” about the new rule, which demands that workers come to the office five days a week.
But employees don’t agree with Garman’s statement. They worry about issues like diversity, inclusion, productivity, and innovation. The letter says that the rule will unfairly impact working parents, employees with disabilities, and those who have caregiving duties.
Amazon used to ask employees to come to the office three days a week. The new rule, which was shared in September, is more strict than what other similar companies have.
“We are concerned that if customers see us facing a real problem and not fixing it, they will start to doubt AWS’s ability to create new things,” the letter said.
In reply, Amazon’s spokesperson Margaret Callahan said the company is dedicated to helping employees, mentioning benefits like care for older family members, pet sitting, and help with commuting.
This disagreement happened when Amazon CEO Andy Jassy introduced the RTO policy to “make the company’s culture and teams even better.”
Amazon Web Services has more than 30,000 employees in its internal Slack group, and 523 of them signed the open letter, with 172 including their names.
