It’s been just a week since Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy told his workforce that they will have to return to working in an office five days a week—and already, 73% of Amazon workers are considering quitting in response.
That’s at least according to the anonymous job review site Blind, which polled 2,585 verified Amazon professionals one day after Jassy sent out the RTO memo.
Although employees at the $1.9 trillion tech giant have until January 2025 before they’ll be expected to show face at one of Amazon’s many offices, the data highlights that many are hoping to find a new job before the new year.
The majority of corporate Amazon employees reported that they’re not happy with the mandate and are looking for new jobs—or know someone on their team who is.
What’s more, over a third said that they know someone at the company who has handed their resignation in because of the announcement.
Fortune similarly found in its own investigation that employees are “rage applying” for new jobs and already interviewing for more flexible roles elsewhere.
Amazon didn't respond to Fortune's request for comment.
Tech workers are worried their employer will follow suit
Over 90% of Amazon’s workers are “dissatisfied” with the company’s new in-office policy, according to the Blind poll, and many posted on Blind about their fears that it will inspire other tech giants to follow suit.
“Remote is a thing of the past…” a verified Block professional wrote on Blind. “Amazon will not do this unless they know their peers aren’t going to do something similar in the future.”
“Other companies are gonna do this, enjoy wfh while it lasts people,” a Google worker echoed.
“Pack it up boys, it’s over,” an AT&T employee added. “All tech going to follow and be 5 days a week now.”
Indeed, since Amazon announced it’s summoning workers back to the old ways of working, computer maker Dell has similarly demanded that its sales staff come into the office five days a week—up from three.
However, research consistently shows that companies with strict in-office mandates, like Amazon and now Dell, are actually exceptions to the norm.
In reality, most businesses are becoming more—not less—flexible and have even recently backtracked on their stance around working from home.
Research suggests Amazon could backtrack on its RTO mandate
Flex Index analyzed office requirements at more than 9,000 companies (who collectively employ more than 100 million people) and found that around half of U.S. firms asked workers to return to the office last January.
Only a third have kept their strict five-day in-office mandates in place.
Now 37% of employers offer hybrid working instead—up from 20% at the start of 2023.
Separate research has echoed that CEOs in the tech industry especially have spent the last year backtracking on their RTO mandates.
Just 3% of tech firms are now asking their workers to go into the office full-time—a significant drop from 8% last year—after experiencing more resistance than they had anticipated.
Amazon could suffer the same fate: According to Blind’s report, in addition to a potential mass exodus of current employees, Amazon's hiring managers are already struggling to recruit because of the new mandate.
A verified Microsoft professional who claims to be interviewing for a job at the company revealed that “thousands of candidates are dropping out of Amazon’s recruitment process.”
Now, they say, Amazon's recruiters are “blowing up” their phone and trying to pin down an interview date.
“I just asked the recruiter why they are rushing to hire and he said the hiring managers are pissed that so many candidates dropped out of the pipeline in just the last 24 hours.
“If you doubt that people would turn down an Amazon offer in a recession, remember that most candidates are still employed and likely working [remotely]…”
