Amazon monitors the presence of its employees in the office more closely
Amazon's efforts to bring more employees back to the office from the home office are reaching a new level of escalation.
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The Amazon Group has stepped up its measures to control the compulsory presence of its employees in the office. This was reported by Business Insider. Amazon wants to prevent employees from only being in the office for a short time and then disappearing straight back into the home office.
Amazon has issued a guideline stipulating that employees must be present in the office for at least two hours a day to fulfill their attendance obligation. For some teams, a minimum attendance requirement of six hours applies. After that, they can continue working from home. Employees who violate this rule will be approached directly by their line manager. It is currently unclear whether this could lead to sanctions or even dismissal.
No desire to go to the office
The background to the attendance controls is Amazon's attempt to bring employees back to the office after the increased home office phase during the coronavirus pandemic. Since May 2023, all Amazon employees who can work from home have had to be in the office at least three days a week. However, this met with massive resistance from the workforce. Around 30,000 of the company's employees spoke out against this in an internal petition. According to Business Insider, Amazon did not care. The company used coercion to enforce the regulation, for example by suspending promotions and threatening dismissal.
Amazon considers attendance to be essential for the success of the company. Good results can only be achieved if employees are in the office more often to exchange ideas and work together on projects.
However, the new regulation has met with the displeasure of Amazon employees. The guidelines are too strict and would have led to more confusion. Some are wondering whether this type of "surveillance" is even legal, while others are looking for ways to circumvent it, reports Business Insider. If the company treats its employees like students, it should not be surprised if they also behave like students. For example, an employee of the Amazon subsidiary Whole Foods admitted to logging in at a locked back door of the company. The action was recorded as attendance, although he did not then go into the office.
(olb)
