Ever since the pandemic, a lot of companies have adopted a work-from-home policy to make up for the restrictions. Companies have since reinstated on-site work with said restrictions gone and Amazon is doing the same, although it might uproot some of its employees' lives.
Relocation for On-Site Work
Things are back to normal, which means that employees will have to return to their normal routines prior to the pandemic. Some have gained employment during the remote work setup thinking that it was permanent, but Amazon will soon require them to do in-office work as well.
This is a problem for those who live far from the main offices, especially since the retail giant now requires three days of on-site work every week. The locations of the offices include New York, San Francisco, and possibly others, as mentioned in Engadget.
With the new hybrid work policy, some employees will have to uproot their lives. The relocation and the employees who will be affected will be decided per department, although Amazon has yet to establish how many employees are required to report to its main offices.
An Amazon representative stated that the in-office mandate led to "more energy, collaboration, and connections happening" after CEO Andy Jassy announced the return of on-site work. Ironically, employees will have to leave their homes to establish said "connections."
The retail giant says that they are continuing to look for the best ways to "bring more teams together in the same locations" along with communicating with employees as they make decisions that will affect them.
Predictably, the impacted workers are not happy about it since they applied with the idea that they can work remotely. Their displeasure with the changes has been expressed even back in May when employees organized a walkout to protest the hybrid work setup.
Amazon is Not Gaining Popularity Points
In the past few months, the retail giant has seen nothing but pushback and protests from its employees, which hints at how the company treats them. Other than mass layoffs, workers claim that they are subjected to unfair labor practices as well.
Just this June, Amazon delivery drivers went on strike to force the company to provide better working conditions and pay. Instead of addressing the problem, Amazon insisted that the drivers were not their direct employees instead.
The protesting workers claimed that Amazon was not providing the drivers with conditioned vehicles for transporting goods, which can become a problem when they have to travel through the desert and suffer "inhumane heat."
According to the drivers, the temperature can reach around 118°F. That doesn't include the fact that it tends to be warmer inside the vehicles compared to the open space. Inside the vehicle, drivers have to endure heat that can reach up to 130°F.
As mentioned in The Verge, the drivers filed unfair labor changes back in May with the National Labor Relations Board. Amazon has since tried denying that they were its employees, stating that they were merely contracted drivers from delivery service partners.
