Amazon workers erupt over email warning staff about working from home

As tension simmers between staff and bosses over remote working, Amazon has sparked fresh outrage among workers by sending a stern email warning.

Amazon has sparked fresh outrage among corporate employees after an email warning about working in the office. Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Amazon has sparked fresh outrage among corporate employees after warning some workers they are “not currently meeting” an “expectation” they work in an assigned office at least three days per week.

Amazon sent an email on Wednesday to workers who had purportedly failed to comply with the company’s office attendance mandate, which took effect in May, the New York Post reports.

“We are reaching out as you are not currently meeting our expectation of joining your colleagues in the office at least three days a week, even though your assigned building is ready,” the message said, according to screenshots circulating on the anonymous corporate message board Blind.

Tension between staff and employers over working from home allowances have come under the spotlight recently as companies look to repopulate workplaces post-pandemic.

In Australia there have been recent reports of employers monitoring staff working remotely, with one woman saying she was fired from the insurance company where she’d worked for 18 years after surveillance showed she wasn’t typing enough on her computer.

The Amazon headquarters campus in Seattle, Washington. Picture: Alamy

Amazon’s email warning appeared to reignite tensions within the e-commerce giant, with some employees asserting that they had received the message by mistake. Amazon employees had previously staged a walkout to protest the return-to-office push in May.

“Is this supposed to scare people?” one Amazon employee wrote in an internal Slack channel, according to a screenshot seen by Insider.

Another Amazon employee reportedly described the email as “peak absurdity” and argued the messages were sent in error to many workers who were actually complying with the attendance policy.

Others questioned whether the warnings were a sign of additional lay-offs to come or an even stricter attendance requirement, according to Insider.

Some workers raised an internal ticket questioning whether the attendance warnings were sent due to a glitch in the system.

Amazon expects workers to be in the office at least three days a week. Picture: Stephane de Sakutin/AFP

In a response to the concerns, Amazon said the RTO email was sent to employees who had badged into their assigned office fewer than three days per week for five or more of the previous eight weeks, or who fell short of the three-day-a-week requirement for three or more of the last four weeks despite their building being ready.

Amazon also admitted that the warnings may have been sent out by mistake in some cases.

“While we’ve taken several steps to ensure this email went to the correct recipients, we recognise that there may be instances where we have it wrong,” the company added. “If you believe that you received this email in error, please reach out to your manager to discuss your situation and ensure it is accurately reflected in the system.”

The attendance warnings are just one element of Amazon’s strict return-to-office push.

Amazon managers have begun telling some employees that they needed to relocate to a central “hub” or leave the company, The Information reported, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Impacted workers reportedly have until September 15 to make a decision on the policy.

The e-commerce giant has already laid off some 27,000 employees since last fall, including a wave of about 9000 cuts that were announced in March.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Amazon workers erupt over email warning staff about working from home