Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced Monday that employees will have to return to the site five days a week starting January 2, 2025.

“We have decided to return to working in the office the way we did before Covid,” the CEO said in a memo to employees.

According to Jassy, ​​employees are expected to be in the office throughout the workweek except for “extenuating circumstances” or if they have a telework exception approved by their team leader.

The CEO made the announcement while explaining the benefits of working in person.

“When we look back over the past five years, we continue to believe that the benefits of being together in the office are significant,” he said.

“We’ve noticed that it’s easier for teammates to learn, model, practice, and reinforce our culture; collaboration, brainstorming, and invention are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from each other is smoother; and teams tend to be more connected to each other.”

Hybrid working ‘boosts conviction’ about returning to office

This announcement officially ends Amazon’s hybrid work arrangement that was implemented in May 2023, where employees are required to be in person at least three days a week.

This comes on the heels of Amazon’s recent announcement of strict measures to enforce hybrid work arrangements, with employees who refuse to work in the office being warned of losing promotions or losing their jobs.

“However, being back in the office at least three days a week over the past 15 months has reinforced our belief in the benefits,” Jassy said.

Amazon will return to dedicated office arrangements at locations that were previously organized this way, including its U.S. headquarters locations, while offices with pre-pandemic “agile” office arrangements, including most of Europe, will continue to operate this way.

“I want to thank our leaders and support teams in advance for the work they will do to improve our organizational structures over the coming months,” Jassy said in the announcement. “With a company of our size and complexity, this will not be a trivial task and will test our collective ability to innovate and simplify when it comes to how we organize and pursue meaningful opportunities across all of our businesses.”

Remove “Layers” on Amazon

Meanwhile, Jassy also announced that they are working to increase the ratio of individual shareholders to directors by at least 15% by the end of the first quarter of 2025.

Having fewer managers would “strip away layers and flatten organizations even more than they are today,” the CEO added.

“If we do this well, it will increase our teammates’ ability to move quickly, clarify and energize their sense of ownership, move decision-making closer to the front lines where it impacts customers (and the company) most, reduce bureaucracy, and enhance our organizations’ ability to make customers’ lives better and easier every day,” he said.

Amazon’s workforce has been growing steadily since last year, reaching more than 1.53 million employees as of the second quarter of 2024, according to its latest financial results.

“With a company of our size and complexity, the work will not be trivial and will test our collective ability to innovate and facilitate when it comes to how we organize and pursue the meaningful opportunities we have across all of our businesses,” Jassy said.