S-team listened to employees, watched how our teams performed, talked to leaders at other companies, and got together on several occasions to discuss if and how we should adjust our approach. We subsequently updated guidance a few times, with the last guidance (in the second half of 2021) being that Director-level leaders would decide for their teams where they’d work, and we’d experiment for the next chunk of time.īecause the pandemic lasted as long as it did, we were able to observe various models-some teams working exclusively from home, some in the office full-time together, and many flavors of hybrid-over a meaningful period of time. It’s hard to believe, but it’s been nearly three years since the pandemic began, and we recommended that all our employees who were able to work from home do so. Here is the full memo from Jassy to Amazon employees: “Our communities matter to us, and where we can play a further role in helping them recover from the challenges of the last few years, we’re excited to do so,” Jassy wrote in his memo. Jassy expressed hope that bringing back thousands of employees to office buildings in the Seattle region, as well as Virginia, Nashville, Tenn., and elsewhere will provide a boost to thousands of businesses located around its urban headquarter locations. “With plans to open two more buildings in the months ahead, this decision will be a catalyst for stabilizing our commercial market while accelerating the return of retail, restaurants, and other commercial office tenants,” he added. Joe Fain, CEO of the Bellevue Chamber, called it “extraordinary news for the health and vitality in downtown.” “Downtown’s largest employer bringing people to the heart of the city is music to the ears of small businesses and arts organizations,” Scholes said in a statement emailed to GeekWire.Ĭity leaders in nearby Bellevue, where Amazon has grown rapidly - but also recently paused construction on office towers to study the impact of hybrid work - were equally enthused. The percentage of 2019 worker foot traffic in downtown Seattle compared to 2022 has hovered around 40% for the past several months, according to data from Downtown Seattle Association.ĭSA President Jon Scholes called Amazon’s decision “terrific news.” The effect has caused leaders in Seattle and across the country to grapple with the economic fallout in urban centers. Remote and hybrid policies adopted during the pandemic upended traditional notions of where and how people work. The cuts impacted 2,300 people in the Seattle region, according to a notice filed with the Washington state Employment Security Department on Jan. The company laid off about 5% of its corporate workforce, or 18,000 employees, late last year and into 2023. RELATED: Amazon’s new back-to-office policy is welcome news to small businesses around Seattle HQ The company employs 75,000 people in the Seattle region, many of them corporate and tech workers, as part of its workforce of 1.54 million people around the world, including warehouse workers. Zillow CEO Rich Barton said this week that the company’s flexible work policy has helped decrease voluntary attrition and increase its job candidate pool.Īmazon went on a hiring spree during the pandemic to help meet demand as more people spent time online. Others such as Zillow Group have leaned into a work-from-home model. Microsoft says it offers “hybrid workplace flexibility.” Google also expects most staff to be in the office three days a week. “Teams tend to be better connected to one another when they see each other in person more frequently.”Īpple last year asked employees to come in three days a week.Being able to walk a few feet to somebody’s space and ask them how to do something or how they’ve handled a particular situation is much easier than Chiming or Slacking them.” “Learning from one another is easier in-person.The energy and riffing on one another’s ideas happen more freely.” “Collaborating and inventing is easier and more effective when we’re in person.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |