AWS CEO tells workers to quit if they don't want to come back to the office

AWS Office
(Image credit: Tony Webster / Flickr)

AWS CEO Matt Garman has apparently hit out at workers unhappy with the company's enforced return to office policy.

Earlier this year, Amazon Web Service (AWS) announced staff would be required to be in-office for 5 days per week, ending its hybrid working policy. Workers were given until January 2 to return to full-time in person work.

Somewhat predictably, this didn’t go down well. Reports emerged that claimed as many as 90% of workers were unhappy with this, and 73% were considering moving jobs - which Garman has now given his blessing to.

But not in a bad way

"If there are people who just don't work well in that environment and don't want to, that's okay, there are other companies around," Garman said, adding the decision was made to allow workers to "invent, collaborate, and be connected."

But compliance to the hybrid work order was fiercely enforced, with some employees who did not adhere to the policy told they were "voluntarily resigning" and were locked out of company systems.

The policy has certainly proved unpopular with some staff who will now lose the benefits of working from home, and will spend more time commuting. But AWS want to make it clear that this is a positive change.

"By the way, I don't mean that in a bad way," he said, adding, "we want to be in an environment where we're working together."

"When we want to really, really innovate on interesting products, I have not seen an ability for us to do that when we're not in-person," said Garman.

Whilst a few major companies are bringing in return to work orders, Spotify have bucked the trend. In a recent statement, Spotify is sticking by its hybrid work policy, as Chief HR Officer said the company trusts its workers, adding that they don't want to "treat them like children."

Via Reuters

More from TechRadar Pro

TOPICS
Ellen Jennings-Trace
Staff Writer

Ellen has been writing for almost four years, with a focus on post-COVID policy whilst studying for BA Politics and International Relations at the University of Cardiff, followed by an MA in Political Communication. Before joining TechRadar Pro as a Junior Writer, she worked for Future Publishing’s MVC content team, working with merchants and retailers to upload content.

Read more
Dell Technologies World 2024
Dell ends hybrid work policy, becomes latest tech giant to force workers back to the office full-time
Vodafone logo outside a store in Sydney
Vodafone employees could lose bonuses if they’re not in office 8 days per month
Stress
JPMorgan tells all its employees they must return to office full-time
IBM
IBM return-to-office scheme is reportedly targeting older workers
Trump on his inauguration day
Trump orders government to terminate remote work arrangements, return to in-person work
young workers being productive in an office meeting
Nationwide boss says women working at home could be missing out on job opportunities
Latest in Pro
Isometric demonstrating multi-factor authentication using a mobile device.
NCSC gets influencers to sing the praises of 2FA
Sam Altman and OpenAI
OpenAI is upping its bug bounty rewards as security worries rise
Context Windows
Why are AI context windows important?
BERT
What is BERT, and why should we care?
A person holding out their hand with a digital AI symbol.
AI is booming — but are businesses seeing real impact?
A stylized depiction of a padlocked WiFi symbol sitting in the centre of an interlocking vault.
Dangerous new CoffeeLoader malware executes on your GPU to get past security tools
Latest in News
Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con up-close from app store
Nintendo's new app gave us another look at the Switch 2, and there's something different with the Joy-Con
cheap Nintendo Switch game deals sales
Nintendo didn't anticipate that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was 'going to be the juggernaut' for the Nintendo Switch when it was ported to the console, according to former employees
Three angles of the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch M4 laptop above a desk
Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) review roundup – should you buy Apple's new lightweight laptop?
Witchbrook
Witchbrook, the life-sim I've been waiting years for, finally has a release window and it's sooner than you think
Amazon Echo Smart Speaker
Amazon is experimenting with renaming Echo speakers to Alexa speakers, and it's about time
Shigeru Miyamoto presents Nintendo Today app
Nintendo Today smartphone app is out now on iOS and Android devices – and here's what it does