Amazon’s CEO has told workers “it’s probably not going to work out” for them at the tech company unless they are prepared to come into the office at least three days a week.
Andy Jassy made the statement in a meeting where he made clear his frustration that some employees were not coming in three days a week, despite that being Amazon’s official policy. The comments were first reported by Insider.
He said: “It’s past the time to disagree and commit. If you can’t disagree and commit … it’s probably not going to work out for you at Amazon because we are going back to the office at least three days a week.”
Ignoring the pointless need to open up with an ad hominem:
Yes, there are plenty of fully remote companies and many don’t even have an official office location. That does not mean that higher level management and design don’t have in person meetings. Maybe they are “retreats” where a cabin in the woods is rented. Maybe it is just hanging out in a hotel room at a trade show. There is still immense benefit to co-location for that kind of planning where even just seeing “Hey, Fred, you look like you want to say something?” goes a long way.
Companies with more democratized management/design models benefit from more co-location. It is the idea of being willing to take feedback or advice from even low level employees because the middle managers know they have insights. And, again, there is a big difference between checking someone’s office on the way back from a bathroom and pinging them to ask if they have time for a call. If it is important? You ping them and tell them to call in on their phone. If it is just about thinking? Maybe you check if they are available or you schedule a meeting for later but… you often just don’t.
Are there companies that are truly 100% remote where nobody ever meets in person? Sure. And the successful ones are usually built around a core group of people who have known each other for decades. And… those have different management/planning problems.
Yeah no one likes assholes that show up to your office without pinging you, it’s a dick move.
I’m guessing you’re middle management and are seeing your bullshit job disappearing. You sound like it and you sound like all you did was micro manage people as well.
Remote work is cheaper on the company, has better morale for it’s workers, collaboration is just as good if not better, and you don’t have just local talent to pull from.