Amazon employees who have been working from home are reportedly deciding to quit rather than comply with the Big Tech firm’s demand they relocate to one of the company’s “central hubs.”
In July, the Jeff Bezos-founded e-retailer told some remote workers they would need to start coming to an office at one of its main hubs, such as in New York City, Seattle, Austin, Texas, or Arlington, Va.
If they would not relocate, the employees would reportedly either need to apply for another role or resign.
Impacted remote workers have until the first half of 2024 to complete the move, even if they live in another state, but some employees were reportedly told they had as little as 30 to 60 days to decide, CNBC reported, citing internal correspondence.
One Texas-based Amazon employee opted to find another job and leave the company instead of moving to one of its designated hubs. The employee told CNBC that they made the decision due to concerns about future job security and higher costs of living in the major cities.
The employee, who was hired in a fully remote role, said the company delivered its relocation mandate even after managers assured their team in March that their roles would not change.
Three other Amazon employees, who are respectively located in Colorado, Utah, and California, told CNBC that they were quitting the company after being instructed to relocate to Seattle.
They decided to exit rather than uproot their families or deal with the financial cost of a move. The employees added that the company’s mandate “made little sense to them” because they were already reporting in person to a local Amazon office three days per week.
The employees opted to quit despite a recent significant slowdown in the tech sector that has led countless firms to enact hiring freezes or conduct sweeping layoffs.
Amazon alone has laid off approximately 27,000 employees since last fall, including a wave of 9,000 cuts announced in March. Amazon has about 350,000 corporate employees.
Amazon spokesperson Rob Munoz said the relocation requirement affects a small portion of the company’s workforce, with each affected team deciding on the hub that best suited their needs. The company is also providing benefits to employees who relocate.
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, so we decided that the best thing to do was to communicate directly with teams and individuals who are affected to ensure they’re getting accurate information that’s relevant to them,” Munoz said in a statement.
“If an individual feels like they don’t have the information they need, we encourage them to talk with their HR business partner or their manager,” Munoz added.
The Post has reached out to Amazon for further comment.
Earlier this month, Amazon reportedly infuriated some workers after emailing a warning that certain employees were “not currently meeting” an “expectation that they work in an assigned office at least three days per week.”
“Is this supposed to scare people?” one Amazon employee wrote in an internal Slack channel, according to a screenshot seen by Insider.
Some workers complained that they had received the message in error despite complying with the office attendance requirement.
Amazon also faced a mass walkout earlier this year from corporate staffers in protest of its return-to-office plan and climate policies.
Amazon isn’t the only corporate giant pushing its employees to return to the office.
Last week, Meta sent a memo warning some employees that they could be fired if they don’t follow the company’s three-day-per-week requirement when it takes effect on Sept. 5.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
