Tue Sep 17 06:49:58 UTC 2024: ## Amazon Mandates Five-Day Workweek, Cuts Management Layers

**Seattle, WA** – Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced a return to the office for all corporate staff, requiring them to work five days a week starting in January. The tech giant had previously mandated a three-day-a-week in-office policy, but Jassy cited the benefits of in-person collaboration as the reason for the shift.

“We believe the advantages of being together in the office are significant,” Jassy wrote in a note to employees. “It’s easier to learn, collaborate, brainstorm, and strengthen our culture when we’re together.”

Exceptions to the five-day policy will be made for employees with “extenuating circumstances” or those whose managers have already approved remote work. The company emphasized that pre-pandemic remote work policies, which allowed for two days a week remote work, will not be reinstated.

In addition to the return-to-office mandate, Amazon is also seeking to streamline its management structure by reducing unnecessary layers. Teams have been instructed to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% by the end of Q1 2025. Jassy believes this move will “increase our team-mates’ ability to move fast, clarify and invigorate their sense of ownership, drive decision-making closer to the front lines, decrease bureaucracy, and strengthen our organisations’ ability to make customers’ lives better and easier every day.”

This announcement will impact Amazon’s over 4,000 employees in Ireland, where its AWS business and retail operations are based. The company’s shift back to the office will be closely watched by other tech giants, many of whom have adopted hybrid work models.

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