Many employees were hired over the past two years being told they'll work from home - and have been. They simply don't live near an office. What's being done about them? Or is this a way to get rid of them without having to lay them off?
I almost ended up in this situation. Interviewed with this company last summer and from the feedback I got, it sounded like they were on the fence about whether to extend me an offer. They don't have any offices in the Philly area and there's no way I'd consider selling my house to relocate when the interest rates have more than doubled since I bought it!
Sometimes getting rejected in an interview for a job you really want can be a blessing in disguise. This decision also makes me much less interested in working for Amazon going forward. They definitely aren't living up to their own "Leadership Principle" about being "Earth's Best Employer" when they're doing unethical things like this.
My advice to those who are in that situation is to make Amazon get rid of you so that you can (probably) file for unemployment. I'm not an employment attorney but my understanding of employment law is that quitting disqualifies you for unemployment but that a company ordering you to relocate to "return to an office" when you were hired to work remotely is probably constructive dismissal which is eligible for unemployment. This will also help if you need to fight them in court over repayment of your bonus. It may be difficult to find another job right now thanks to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions so you might need the unemployment and/or bonus money to survive in the meantime.
This kind of policy can also be a hidden layoff forcer. You never know what they actually want. They make ambiguous statements about vague gains, culture, etc. It's never concrete. It's just what they want.
They'd either have been hired as a remote employee, or with an expectation to come to the office at some point. If that wasn't communicated, something went wrong at the time of hiring.
Pretty sure Amazon has always had virtual employees, and you should be able to request to switch, possibly with impact on your pay.
That's right. When I worked there, I had a colleague planning to move away from Seattle. Our director wouldn't allow remote work, so this person switched teams into an official Virtual location under a director that would.
I don't know what Amazon is doing but when apple moved to hybrid in-office, they made the pandemic hires move to within commuting distance of their department's office, with paid relocation. I.e. the same thing they did with new hires before the pandemic.
I feel bad for the younger out of college hires. Anyone else should know better. If you expect a company to treat you better than they have to as required by contract/law - including keeping verbal promises - you will be screwed my friend. Wrong and right are independent of reality.
