Amazon RTO Hampered by Office Theft, Cramped Parking Lots, Lack of Office Space

Despite having kicked off its return-to-office (RTO) policy on Jan. 2, after Amazon initially issued a heads-up as to the full RTO plans in September of last year, the company’s corporate employees are issuing a litany of complaints.

This latest and full iteration of the RTO policy, including a five-day workweek in the office, was preceded by a three-day RTO order, according to Business Insider.

Amazon Full RTO Draws Criticism From Employees, but Company Spokesperson Claims Complainants Amount to a ‘Small Number’ of Workers

As UC Today reported, discontent with Amazon’s full RTO order kicked in with corporate employees nearly as soon as it was announced in the autumn of 2024.

At that time, a survey conducted on a company slack channel playing host to 30,000 Amazon corporate employees revealed deep dissatisfaction with the mandate. On a scale of one to five, with five being “strongly satisfied” and one representing “strongly dissatisfied,” the full RTO order was awarded a 1.4, indicating widespread displeasure with the move.

A similar poll was conducted on Blind, a forum serving verified tech sector professionals. Summing up responses from 2,500 Amazon employees holding corporate positions, 91% indicated they were unhappy with the RTO order, and 73% indicated that they would consider seeking employment elsewhere.

It may not be quite that simple to follow through with such threats, however. Speaking to Business Insider, Peter Cappelli — director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources — said that even if RTO orders stoke employee resentment, there’s often little recourse available to individual workers. RTO may be “painful,” he added, but very few employers are offering fully remote work as large companies are seemingly in lockstep on the issuance of these orders.

“Employers have all the power here,” Cappelli said.

On the other hand, an Amazon spokesperson had a different take on the current state of affairs.

“While we’ve heard ideas for improvement from a relatively small number of employees and are working to address those, these anonymous anecdotes don’t reflect the sentiment we’re hearing from most of our teammates,” the spokesperson said. “What we’re seeing is great energy across our offices, and we’re excited by the innovation, collaboration and connection that we’ve seen already with our teams working in person together.”

Business Insider noted that the company’s press office also shared positive thoughts over the matter from two employees, both emphasizing the importance of face-to-face contact and human connection in an office setting.

CEO Andy Jassy signaled his resolve to pursue the RTO mandate, and AWS CEO Matt Garman claimed that nine out of 10 employees he had spoken with were “excited” about the planned return to office.

Amazon RTO Sees Office Theft, Crammed Parking Lots, Lack of Office Space, and Long Delays

Besides morale concerns, other issues seem to be piling up at Amazon corporate offices as a result of the return-to-work order.

Business Insider underscored incidents of employee theft occurring at the retailer’s offices in Toronto, Canada, while other workers complained of a lack of parking or space on company shuttles.

Still other employees spoke out about a lack of office fixtures, such as desks or meeting rooms, and some complained that many meetings were still held over video chat, despite team members being physically present in the office.

Per a separate Business Insider report released on Jan. 7, more than 40 U.S. offices have had their full RTO order delayed due to an inability to accommodate the move.