Exclusive:
Amazon has controversially scrapped its hybrid policy and is forcing all staff to return to the office five days a week – but it could come at a huge cost for women, Anna Whitehouse says
Amazon’s new five-day office rule could be detrimental to working mothers, campaigner Anna Whitehouse tells The Mirror.
The corporation’s CEO Andy Jassy issued a memo to all staffers on Monday stating that they would be required to work in the office “the way we were before the onset of Covid” from January 2025, to make the business “better set up” for the future. While he is certain the move will strengthen the business, others aren’t so sure.
Frustrated staff members have already expressed their plans to ‘soft quit’ on a viral Reddit forum, and Amanda Gearing, a senior organiser for GMB, the trade union representing Amazon workers in the UK, has described the announcement as “yet another example of how Amazon has won its reputation as one of the worst employers around”.
Anna, also known as Mother Pukka, is a flexible working campaigner and believes forcing everyone back into an office full-time could come at a huge cost to working mothers. The pregnant mum-of-two, who founded the Flex Appeal in 2015 – a campaign for workplace flexibility – has said the move “forces more women out of work”.
Speaking to The Mirror off the back of the Amazon announcement, Anna, 43, said: “I’m done with archaic minds and corporate dinosaurs forcing everyone back to the office after making such inroads post-pandemic. We are the least productive nation in Europe. Presenteeism doesn’t equal productivity.”
She continued: “It doesn’t matter where people sit, I just want these corporates to look at what employees are doing. And that’s before even getting to the fact that forcing everyone back to an office makes nursery pick-up a logistical nightmare. One that simply forces more women out of work.”
In 2015, the former journalist was forced to leave her job after her boss refused her request to start 15 minutes earlier so she could leave to pick her tot up from nursery in time. Since that moment, she has vowed to not let her two daughters, now seven and 11, have to compromise their careers to become mothers.
Anna said Amazon scrapping its hybrid policy will leave many mothers without a choice but to quit their jobs too. She added: “It feels like another decision made by male billionaires with no concept of the real world and wraparound nanny childcare. Cue the gender pay gap widening here and swathes of women being forced out of work once again.”
Amazon made it mandatory in 2023 for corporate staff to be in the office three days a week, which came as a shock to many after the global pandemic engendered a shift towards remote and hybrid working. But Mr Jassy said the change has only “strengthened our conviction about the benefits” of being in the office full-time.
The policy led to some backlash last year, with more than 20,000 Amazon workers signing a petition urging the firm to reconsider the return-to-office mandate. Mr Jassy stressed in his memo this week that the change will not force people to be in the office if they have extenuating circumstances, or if they have an agreement to work remotely with their manager.
“Before the pandemic, not everybody was in the office five days a week, every week,” he said. “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. This was understood, and will be moving forward as well.”
Some disgruntled employees reacted to the change in policy on Reddit and agreed to ‘soft quit’, a trend that means slowly disengaging from their jobs before moving on. One person posted: “Three years at Amazon currently. Probably going to soft quit and get a new job. F*** Jassy.”
Another person shared how their partner works for Amazon, and “not one person on his team lives in our city”. They said “all his meetings are on video” and the commute is two hours each way. They wrote: “His job pays our mortgage but definitely we’re hoping for him to find something else. He’s been actively applying and interviewing for a while.”
Someone else said: “What better way to cut jobs than to force everyone back into the office and watch people quit in droves.” But others told the angry workers to deal with it. One person said: “Quit complaining. If you don’t like it, find a different job. Suck it up like the rest of us.”
Meanwhile, the announcement sparked controversy on X with some users saying they “admire” Mr Jassy’s move, while others slammed Amazon for not knowing “the quality of deliverables matters far more than where they are created”. One person questioned: “How long until other big tech companies follow?”
In his announcement, the CEO said he wants Amazon to “operate like the world’s largest startup” – but at what cost? Only time will tell. Mr Jassy said: “We understand that some of our teammates may have set up their personal lives in such a way that returning to the office consistently five days per week will require some adjustments. To help ensure a smooth transition, we’re going to make this new expectation active on January 2, 2025.”
What do you think of Amazon’s new policy? Let us know in the comments.
