As the world emerges from the pandemic, big tech companies such as Twitter, Amazon, and Apple are mandating many employees to return to the office (or “RTO” for short) approximately three days a week. This marks a significant shift from the fully remote work policies that were put in place during the pandemic, and it is clear that remote work (for most of Silicon Valley) is increasingly being phased out at some of Silicon Valley’s biggest juggernauts.
While it’s well understood that throughout the pandemic, companies globally had no choice but to enforce fully remote working where ever possible, there was a strong endorsement of remote working as a viable alternative to commuting into an office five days a week.
Finally, for millions of Americans, true “work/life” balance was within reach, as time gained from not having to commute meant they could become more productive, take kids to school, or exercise in a gym, for example.
Flash forward a few years, and suddenly the explosive growth that the pandemic brought big tech organizations has flattened.
Companies such as Microsoft, Zoom, Amazon, and Google that had hired collectively hundreds of thousands of employees throughout the pandemic to meet demand now suddenly urged caution. Chief Executives across Silicon Valley now started using similar phrases like “year of efficiency” to start responding to signs of corporate bloating.
Then the layoffs began.
Indeed, the same companies that hired at a breakneck pace throughout the pandemic like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce began layoffs that ripped across departments.
In 2022 alone, 1,053 tech companies laid off 164,411 employees. In the first three months alone of 2023, 551 tech companies laid off 165,622 employees according to Layoffs.fyi.
As big tech companies increase cost-savings measures such as changing employee benefits and reducing perks like free meals, yoga classes and massage sessions – layoffs (and the possibly more layoffs) continue.
Amazon’s push for Return to Office
When Amazon announced its intent to force employees back to the office, it was met with immediate employee pushback. Over 30,000 Amazon employees signed a petition requesting Amazon to amend or withdraw its return to office (RTO) policy. But Amazon’s executive leadership would have none of it.
Amazon Senior Vice President of Human Resources Beth Galetti responded to the petition in an email that Amazon’s guiding principle is to “make our customers’ lives better and easier every day.” She said the company is confident that office work will increase the company’s ability to deliver for customers, according to Insider.
Amazon employees flooded an internal Slack channel called “remote advocacy” and called her response “disconnected”, and the group felt “like a total failure” after the unsuccessful appeal.
The RTO mandate will begin May 1, according to Amazon. How many Amazon employees that comply, or decide to leave on their own, is yet to be determined.
The move is especially intriguing considering Amazon has suspended major portions of its “HQ2” location in Arlington, Virginia amidst the dynamic shift in hiring, layoffs, and hybrid-work demands. This will force existing Amazon employees within the geographic region to either commute further to other Amazon or AWS buildings, or perhaps demand remote work flexibility.
Apple tracks badge access to track employee RTO attendance
Perhaps Apple is taking the most aggressive approach to tracking and enforcing employee RTO efforts. Reports hit the media in March 2023 that Apple is tracking employee badge records to ensure in-person attendance three days a week:
While Apple has largely avoided any layoffs on the scale of other “big tech” companies—Apple was the most conservative with hiring throughout the pandemic—it too, has recently announced layoffs across its retail divisions.
Apple tracking employee badge scans on its corporate office locations should hardly come as a surprise. No doubt every other big tech company like Google, Amazon, Meta, and others are doing the same. But auditing and reporting employee badge swipes as a means to track attendance—and perhaps use as a metric for deciding which employees to retain—is another.
Why Amazon, Google, and Microsoft employees demand remote or hybrid working
It’s understood that remote work is not for everyone.
For some, it allows them time to be more productive instead of commuting in congested, metropolitan areas that may mean a 30-60 minute commute each way. It provides a chance to take their children to school, or drop off at daycare.
For others, they want the ability to come into the office when it makes sense to get away from distractions at home. How many times have we witnessed kids or a delivery person interrupt someone during an important virtual meeting? Working from your home doesn’t always work.
Employee needs are different for achieving productivity, and a mandate in either direction—to fully work from home, or come into the office when you are told to do so—doesn’t really work.
Many families throughout the pandemic across America chose to get out of the expensive urban areas or nearby suburbs that they were paying a premium for and relocate further out into the suburbs or rural areas. After all, if your company starts embracing a “work from anywhere” or truly remote policy, why not?
Among many of those employees are many from Amazon. When your employer suddenly changes its work from home policy, it can equal drastic changes: a significantly longer commute, a need to put your children in daycare, or possibly even consider moving back closer to the office.
Affected employees may even consider finding another job.
When companies like Amazon, Google, Meta and Twitter earned record profits throughout the pandemic—albeit a bubble, with many compounding factors that influenced that surge—it’s hard to argue that employees need to return to office cubicles when efficiency, profitability, and growth were all achieved under enormously challenging market conditions.
Even worse, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy calling for employees to RTO as a means to “boost local economies” is the wrong, tone-deaf reason. Jassy at least acknowledges that the RTO policy is in a “stage of experimenting, learning and adjusting” and could change.
Employees have proven that it doesn’t take in-person meetings or working in assigned cubicles amongst teammates to be productive. Many workers are willing to sacrifice amenities such as extensive snack kitchens, gourmet meals and massage therapy if it means they have more time to be at home with their kids or simply not commute.
For years, tech companies of Silicon Valley have showered employees with top-shelf amenities and benefits as a way to attract and retain talent. Employees largely had leverage (or perceived leverage) over their employers.
Now, there has been a dramatic leverage shift in favor of tech companies, and employees may just have to comply—or get out.
Don’t want to RTO? We’ll hire someone who does
In a sign of pre-COVID hiring trends, the Wall Street Journal reported that US companies are increasingly offering potential new hires relocation benefits so they can move closer to the office. According to the report, job postings offering relocation benefits was up 75% as of February 2023, when compared to the prior year.
This trend could be concerning if it persists for anyone wishing to work fully remote, or occasionally return to in-person office settings. If you’re not willing to return to the office, or work a fixed hybrid-work schedule, perhaps your company will simply hire someone who does.
This has a number of implications across the broader tech industry, and only time will tell if it takes hold. As Generation Z continues to enter the workforce, it’ll be interesting if they remain “Generation Zoom”, or crave social interaction much like the Millennial generation—who now are entering positions of senior management and leadership—embraced.
We’re in a new working environment in 2023, with old habits of “office collaboration” and the conveniences of remote working in a duel. No one knows for sure which direction this will go, but remote working for most of us seems to be a luxury of the past.
Even amongst employees, one quick look on LinkedIn and you’ll be able to see those who attend in-person office engagements and work related travel updates seem to be the “movers and shakers” and remote workers are… left behind, out of sight, out of mind.
Going back to the office even in low frequency may become a necessity for most of us. It may be key to our own survival.
Better refresh your business casual attire.
Disclaimer: The author of this article is a current employee of Google. This article does not represent the views or opinions of his employer and is not meant to be an official statement for Google, or Google Cloud.
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