“Quit if you don’t want to go back to the office for 5 days”

A top Amazon executive has defended its controversial new five-day work week policy, saying those who don’t support it can leave for another company.

At an all-AWS meeting, Matt Jarman, the unit’s CEO, said nine out of 10 workers he spoke to support the new policy, which will take effect in January, according to a transcript reviewed by the New York Post.

He noted that those who do not want to comply can resign. “If there are people who don’t do well in that environment and don’t want to, that’s OK, there are other companies,” Jarman said.

“When we really want to create interesting products, I haven’t seen the ability to do that when we’re not in person.”

The policy has upset many Amazon employees, who say it causes them to waste time commuting, and that the benefits of working from the office are not supported by independent data. Amazon has a three-day in-person policy, but CEO Andy Jassy said last month that the retailer would move to five days to “invent, collaborate and stay connected.” Some employees who had previously failed to comply were told they would “voluntarily resign” and were blocked from accessing company systems. Amazon, the world’s second-largest private employer after Walmart, has taken a tougher stance on returning to offices than many of its tech peers such as Google, Meta and Microsoft, which have two- to three-day tenure policies. “I’m actually very excited about this change,” Jarman said. “I know not everyone is like that,” he said, noting that it is very difficult to achieve company goals during the current mandatory three days of work in the office. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment. Under the three-day policy, “we didn’t really accomplish anything, it was like we couldn’t work together and learn from each other,” Jarman said. In particular, Jarman said the company’s leadership principles, which dictate how Amazon operates, are very difficult to meet under current policy. “You can’t absorb it by reading it on the website, you have to experience it day in and day out,” he said. The first, “disagree and compromise,” which is taken to mean that employees can air their grievances but then must dig deeper into the project as defined by leaders, is not ideal for remote work, Jarman said. “I don’t know if they tried to disagree on the Chime call,” he said, referring to the company’s internal calling and messaging feature. “It’s very difficult.”