Deadline Prime’d: Amazon Tells Staff—30 Days to Ship Up or Ship Out

Amazon has issued a blanket order to tens of thousands of its U.S. corporate employees: relocate to bigger city hubs such as Seattle, Arlington, or Washington D.C. within 30 days, or take a tough choice—resign in 60 days, no severance package. The order is as Amazon accelerates its return-to-office program and gets ready for layoffs following rapid AI tool uptake.

 

Key Highlights:

 

•⁠  ⁠Staff members have 30 days to determine whether or not to move; if they refuse, they have 60 days to quit or start the relocation process, but the resignation is severance-free.

 

•⁠  ⁠The policy is being revealed in individual meetings and company town meetings instead of firm-wide announcements, creating fear and anxiety among the employees.

 

•⁠  ⁠Amazon executives, headed by CEO Andy Jassy, have warned that artificial intelligence-based efficiencies will slash the company's corporate employees in the next couple of years, and this relo mandate has been regarded as an inexpensive way to trim headcount without formal layoffs.

 

•⁠  ⁠The sudden demand is most disruptive to mid-career professionals with families, who have been hired into remote jobs during the pandemic and now have to upend their lives.

 

•⁠  ⁠Workers who have already received relocation allowances can be asked to return the same if they quit their organization within a year.

 

Prospects: Amazon's hardline stance will probably induce a spate of voluntary resignations and redefine its workforce for a new, AI-dominated age. But the lack of severance and honesty of the mandate could damage employee morale and retention in the long run.

 

Source: Economic Times, News18, SightsInPlus