Amazon is offering employees in Germany the option to work from home up to two days per week, creating a notable exception to its controversial global return-to-office mandate, according to internal documents obtained by Business Insider.
The e-commerce giant will begin accepting flexible work applications from German staff starting December 15, even as it prepares to implement a five-day office requirement worldwide in January. The policy allows for both formal arrangements, which modify employment contracts, and informal arrangements requiring 24-hour advance notice.
The exception for German employees stands in contrast to Amazon’s broader stance on office attendance, which is notably stricter than peers like Google, Meta, and Microsoft, which maintain two to three-day office policies.
Employees have also been mounting resistance to Amazon top executives over the stricter office attendance policy. Over 500 Amazon Web Services employees recently sent an open letter to AWS CEO Matt Garman, criticising the mandate as “an outright abdication of AWS’ role as one of the world’s most innovative companies.”
Garman has defended the policy, claiming that “nine out of 10 employees” he spoke with were “actually quite excited by this change.” During an all-hands meeting, he suggested that dissatisfied employees could seek employment elsewhere, stating, “If there are people who just don’t work well in that environment and don’t want to, that’s okay, there are other companies around.”
CEO Andy Jassy recently pushed back against speculation that the return-to-office mandate is a “backdoor layoff,” emphasising that the decision is “very much about our culture and strengthening our culture.” The policy has particularly significant implications in Germany, where Amazon plans to employ over 40,000 permanent workers by year’s end and has committed to a €10 billion investment in logistics and cloud infrastructure.
The flexible work policy in Germany includes strict compliance measures, with Amazon reserving the right to take disciplinary action, including termination, for those who fail to follow the guidelines. Remote work arrangements will be limited to one-year terms and can be reconsidered at the company’s discretion, Business Insider reports.