Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel has addressed a major concern employees have about a controversial change in the company’s work culture.
After Amazon (AMZN) , which owns Whole Foods, recently announced that it will be mandating all of its employees to return to working in the office five days a week, starting Jan. 5, 2025, Buechel allegedly claimed in a recent meeting with employees that he wants to find the “win-win” in the situation, according to a new report from Fortune.
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“Our goal here is not to make this seem like this is a stick,” said Buechel during the meeting. “We want to help create and work with our team members (in) having the carrot and getting the excitement about bringing back the culture and ultimately the interactions that we once had in our offices across the company.”
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The CEO's comments come after Amazon's new RTO policy drew scrutiny on social media and from employees.
Buechel also allegedly said that he wants to create an “office experience task force” and that he would allow employees to work from home if an unexpected personal situation pops up or if they need quiet time to fulfill a deadline.
“I want us to figure out how do we find the win-win overall in supporting Whole Foods Market, our team members, our customers and beyond,” said Buechel.
Buechel also clarified during the meeting that Amazon’s new RTO mandate wasn’t a quiet layoff, despite recent speculation. He also claimed that even though the amount of time employees spend in the office will continue to be tracked after the mandate goes into effect next year, he plans to cease that practice if employees “work responsibly.”
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“I don’t want us to be in this space,” said Buechel. “I don’t want this to seem like we are punching a clock from 8 to 5. And I don’t want to be in a spot where we are tracking this.”
The internal meeting with employees comes after it was recently revealed in a survey, which was conducted by job review site Blind, that 73% of Amazon employees are considering searching for a new job due to the new policy.
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Many employees nationwide have been increasingly searching for jobs that allow remote work. According to recent research from Jobseeker, Google searches for “jobs where you work alone” and “jobs where you work from home” have increased by 9900% and 7400%, respectively, in the past month.
“Job seekers in the United States are increasingly expecting a flexible approach from the companies and roles they apply to and work for,” said David Overmars, a career and resume expert at Jobseeker. “Today, there are far more options available to candidates than the traditional five-day office mandates some large organizations are looking to re-entrench.”
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