Amazon extends remote work policies indefinitely for many employees

Oct. 11 (UPI) -- A top Amazon official said Monday the online retailing giant will allow many of its corporate and tech employees to continue to work from home indefinitely.

In a blog posted Monday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company is stepping back from an earlier directive requiring most corporate employees to be physically present office at least three days per week beginning in January as COVID-19-related restrictions are eased.

Instead, Jassy said that as long as they remain within commuting distance, employees will not have to contend with company-wide rules on how often they must be present in the office.

Remote working decisions, he said, will instead be left to team managers, or "directors," to be instituted in accordance with each unit's particular needs.

"We expect that there will be teams that continue working mostly remotely, others that will work some combination of remotely and in the office, and still others that will decide customers are best served having the team work mostly in the office," he wrote.

"We're intentionally not prescribing how many days or which days -- this is for directors to determine with their senior leaders and teams. The decisions should be guided by what will be most effective for our customers; and not surprisingly, we will all continue to be evaluated by how we deliver for customers, regardless of where the work is performed," the CEO wrote.

Jassy lauded the hundreds of thousands of Amazon employees in fulfillment, delivery and other roles who have been unable to work remotely during the pandemic.

"The work of these teams remains critical to communities around the world (and to the company's success), and the world has relied on them to deliver products to their doorsteps since the very beginning of the pandemic," he wrote.

With its new policy, Amazon is following similar moves made by other big technology companies such as Microsoft, which last month indefinitely postponed the reopening of its offices in Redmond, Wash., and elsewhere.