While Amazon is delaying its January 2 return-to-office (RTO) mandate for thousands of employees because of a lack of office space, two other companies are following the tech giant’s lead and implementing strict back-to-the-office mandates.
AT&T and Sweetgreen are telling non-frontline staff to come into the office more often in the new year, per Bloomberg.
Both companies currently require employees to be in the office three days per week.
Related: Dell’s Sudden 5-Day Return-to-Office Order Leaves Parents Scrambling to Find Childcare
AT&T wants more U.S. staff in the office all five workdays while Sweetgreen is pushing for four days per week, according to the report.
Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman told Bloomberg that Amazon’s stricter RTO policy paved the way for Sweetgreen to ask its workers to come in more often, too.
“That was the big turning point where everyone’s like: ‘Oh, they’re doing it, now we can do it,'” Neman said.
Related: Hybrid Workers Were Put to the Test Against Fully In-Office Employees — Here’s Who Came Out On Top
What Is Amazon’s New RTO Policy?
Amazon’s new RTO policy requires all employees back to the office for the full five-day workweek starting in January. And though other companies have been following Amazon’s lead, the feedback from employees has not been positive.
After the news was announced in September, 73% of Amazon’s corporate workforce said they were looking for a new job. Then, in October, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman told staff who didn’t want to return to the office the full five days there were “other companies around.” That led over 500 Amazon employees to sign a letter protesting his comments.
Despite the pushback, Amazon has persisted with its policy.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last month that the move to fully return to the office was not a cost play, but was rather motivated by the need to strengthen Amazon’s culture.
Related: Google Says It Won’t Follow Amazon’s Lead With a Return-to-Office Mandate — Yet
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage
Meanwhile, Amazon’s RTO policy may have hit a snag — reports emerged earlier this week that there is simply not enough office space to accommodate all of the retail giant’s 350,000 corporate employees.
Amazon reportedly told thousands of corporate workers living in at least seven cities, including Austin, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona, that they will not be required to return to the office until as late as April.
Still, an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg that “the vast majority” of Amazon’s corporate workforce will be back at their desks starting January 2.
Related: Remote Walmart Employees Question Return-to-Office Policy, Some Opt to Quit Instead
Does a strict return-to-office policy lead to employees quitting?
A new study found a noticeable departure in employees after companies implemented stricter RTO policies.
Earlier this month, researchers at the University of Pittsburg published a study in the Social Science Research Network to determine how RTO mandates affect employee turnover. The researchers examined LinkedIn employment histories of over three million tech and finance workers and found there was a 14% increase in employees quitting after companies implemented RTO policies.
“Notably, we find that female employees are more likely to leave after RTO mandates,” the 40-page study reads.
RTO also affected how quickly companies were able to hire a replacement. The study found that it took a firm 23% longer on average to fill a job vacancy after implementing a strict RTO policy.
