Some Amazon employees opt to leave company instead of moving closer to offices
Amazon gave a portion of its employees a choice last month: Move closer to a company office, or maybe, ya know, go work somewhere else. It seems that at least a few employees have opted to take the second option.
CNBC reports that some Amazon employees are choosing to quit the company rather than follow its new relocation requirement. The news outlet only spoke with a handful of employees, yet they provide insight into the dilemmas Amazon workers face as the company attempts to bring more staff into its offices.
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Amazon has advanced efforts to get employees back into its offices over the past few months. It began a hybrid work model on May 1, requiring workers to be in an office three days a week. Part of its argument for this move was that downtown Seattle businesses needed employees to return. Some employees protested the policy.
By June, 51% of all downtown Seattle employees returned to local places of work. Seattle traffic has suffered as a result.
Amazon eventually cranked up the pressure. In July, management sent a letter to employees, encouraging them to move closer to its offices and adhere to its hybrid-work policy. The other option was for employees to quit.
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A handful of employees told CNBC that they were told to move closer to an Amazon office hub by the first half of 2024. They chose to leave the company, and to not to break leases, force their families to move, or move to an area with much higher housing costs. Three employees CNBC spoke with were asked to relocate to Seattle, despite currently living in Colorado, Utah, and California.
Amazon says this policy only affects a small percentage of its employees and it is providing relocation benefits.
The relocation policy also comes as Amazon endeavors to downsize its own workforce. In January, the company announced plans to lay off 18,000 employees. Other layoffs have been announced in the months that followed.
