SINGAPORE: Tech giant Amazon is delaying its five-day return-to-office policy, slated to start in January, for thousands of workers due to a lack of office space.
The company recently informed some workers in at least seven United States cities – including Austin, Dallas and Phoenix – that their return dates would be pushed back by up to four months, reported Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the situation.
According to Bloomberg, Amazon employs over 350,000 corporate employees globally, mostly in the US. It is unclear how many workers will be affected by the delay.
Staff in Dallas were told there would be insufficient office space for all of them to come in five days a week until March or April, while some workers at the company’s Midtown Manhattan office would not have space for full-time work until May, sources told Bloomberg.
Amazon has also informed it workers in Atlanta, Nashville and Houston that it did not have enough space for them all to return in January, Business Insider reported on Monday (Dec 16).
A spokesperson for the company told Bloomberg that, in most cases, the return-to-office delays came about as a result of reconfigurations of buildings that had been used to accommodate part-time remote workers and not because of a lack of available office space.
Reports of the delays came as Amazon warehouse workers at several of its US facilities threatened to go on strike, aiming to pressure the company into contract negotiations with their union. Workers at seven facilities subsequently walked off the job early on Thursday.
Source: CNA
