Atlassian boss says Amazon’s return-to-work mandate is ‘not the solution’
A major Australian company has ridiculed Amazon after it declared its WFH era is officially over - and it could have huge consequences for Aussies.
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Software giant Atlassian has ridiculed Amazon for “wilfully endorsing the old way as a solution to new problems” after the tech giant declared its work from home era is officially over.
The US tech giant’s chief executive Andy Jassy declared all corporate staff would need to come back into the office five days a week from January to “strengthen our culture and teams”.
“When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant,” Mr Jassy said in a blog post.
“Teams tend to be better connected to one another. If anything, the last 15 months we’ve been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits.”
Speaking to The Australian, the head of Atlassian’s distributed work model Team Anywhere, Annie Dean, said such mandates “aren’t the solution” to increasing workplace collaboration.
Workers are “drowning” in so-called “fake work” – a term popularised by Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky that encapsulates activities that feel like work, but don’t create value for a business, she said.
“They are lost in endless meetings and messages, and spending so much time trying to get the information they need and co-ordinating their work that they get very little actual work done,” Ms Dean said.
“Office attendance does not fix fake work. Rigorously adopted sets of working norms that increase co-ordination and improve communication and focus fix fake work.
“A business seeking to operate like the world’s largest start-up – as Andy Jassy wrote in an Amazon company memo announcing a five-day return to office yesterday – should be pioneering new, more efficient modes of work, not wilfully endorsing the old way as a solution to new problems.”
Atlassian co-founder and CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes previously described such return-to-work mandates as “draconian”.
About 7000 of Amazon’s 1.6 million workers globally are based in Australia, spread across offices, warehouses, fulfilment centres and delivery fleets.
Mr Jassy said Amazon would adopt a commonsense approach to ongoing remote work arrangements.
“Before the pandemic, not everybody was in the office five days a week, every week,” he said.
“If you or your child were sick, if you had some sort of house emergency, if you were on the road seeing customers or partners, if you needed a day or two to finish coding in a more isolated environment, people worked remotely.
“This was understood, and will be moving forward as well. But, before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward.
“Our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances.”
His memo comes as Australian companies grapple with the future of hybrid working arrangements, which became widespread during the pandemic due to social distancing restrictions.
Commonwealth Bank faced an internal revolt last year when its 49,000 staff were ordered to come back into the office just 50 per cent of the time.
The NSW government – the biggest employer in the country – experienced what Opposition Leader Mark Speakman described as a “public service revolt” in August when it issued a directive for government sector staff to work mostly from the office, reversing its hybrid work policy.
In the wake of Amazon’s order, on Wednesday betting giant Tabcorp told its staff they were to come back to the office five days a week as part of a company reset, effective immediately.
“What this means is that all office-based team members should work in the office, with their team, every day of their working week,” a memo sent to staff read.
“This is a really important step change – we are resetting Tabcorp. Having us together as a team, focused and driving towards our goals will deliver outcomes and success.
“Being connected as a team also drives a winning culture and supports us to collaborate and achieve our best.”
While the company will remain a “flexible” workplace under certain circumstances, employees’ “default position is to come into the office every day”.
Originally published as Atlassian boss says Amazon’s return-to-work mandate is ‘not the solution’
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