Atlassian describes Amazon’s return-to-office mandate as ‘wilfully endorsing the old way’

Amazon boss Andy Jassy has ordered workers to return to the office five days a week, but Atlassian – which makes remote-working software – says that won’t stop staff from ‘drowning’.

Amazon boss Andy Jassy has ordered workers to return to the office five days a week.

Atlassian has accused Amazon of “wilfully endorsing the old way as a solution to new problems” after the e-commerce titan declared an end to the work-from-home era for its employees.

Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy has ordered employees globally back to the office, working the same “way we were before the onset of Covid”.

“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.

“In summary, we’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practise and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless.

“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.”

But Annie Dean, Atlassian’s head of Team Anywhere – its distributed work model – says “return-to-office mandates aren’t the solution” to increasing collaboration.

Atlassian Team Anywhere head Annie Dean.

Ms Dean said employees were “drowning” in what Airbnb’s chief executive, Brian Chesky, dubbed “fake work”. The term is used to describe activities that feel like work but don’t create value for a business, which Ms Dean said was overwhelming employees.

“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.”

Amazon has about 1.6 million workers globally and 7000 in Australia who are spread across offices, warehouses, fulfilment centres and delivery fleets.

Atlassian – a $US41bn company that makes software to increase employee collaboration and effectively work anywhere – has been critical of return-to-work mandates; co-founder and chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes has branded such moves as “draconian”.

Mr Cannon-Brookes told The Australian that remote working failed when corporates hire “a bunch of idiots” and don’t trust workers to do their jobs.

“If you hire a bunch of idiots and (people) who don’t want to do a job and they goof off, I mean, OK is that their problem or yours’?”, Mr Cannon-Brookes said earlier this year.

As well, business leaders, including former NAB chief executive Ross McEwan and ex-Crown Resorts boss Ciaran Carruthers, have been calling for workers to return to the office to revitalise CBDs.

Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy says employees working from home is no longer appropriate for his company.

The problem has been acutely felt in San Francisco where, along with Silicon Valley to its south, is home to many of the world’s biggest tech companies and where Atlassian’s headquarters are.

Nick Stone – the retired AFL footballer who took New York and America by storm when he launched his Australian-style cafes – said working from home had affected business more than Covid-19.

“Employers are really struggling to get people to commit to a more structured return to office in New York in particular, in America in particular. It really trails Asia and Europe,” Mr Stone told The Australian in January.

“Return to work, I think, is right now stuck at a cap of 55-60 per cent, and it’s over indexed by three days a week where you might get 80 to 100 per cent (of those workers in the office).

“You basically get next to nothing on Friday, then on Monday, so it’s very interesting, challenging for our business.”

Like many tech companies, Amazon has introduced perks at its offices to entice people to return. This includes allowing employees to bring their dogs to work.

Amazon’s office in Melbourne has rest and recreation areas for staff.

Amazon’s new office in Melbourne has a rooftop gardens for dogs, with lawns and even a fake hydrant for the animals to relieve themselves on. Border collies, labradors and bitzas are regularly seen frolicking there. Inside, there are pool and table tennis tables to allow workers to re-energise themselves.

Atlassian has adopted a different approach, trialling a “connection hub” in Melbourne to cater for employees who flourish better in a shared working space. But attendance is not mandatory.

Mr Jassy said Amazon would adopt a commonsense approach to remote work arrangements.

“Before the pandemic, not everybody was in the office five days a week, every week. 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,” Mr Jassy said.

“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 (like the ones mentioned above) or if you already have a remote-work exception approved through your s-team leader.”