‘Very Dissatisfied’: Amazon Employees Demand End to 5-Day Overtime Mandate in Anonymous Poll

Instead, hundreds of employees of the online retail giant are complaining that the decision to return to the office for five days a week, announced by CEO Andy Jassy last week, will negatively impact their lives — and their productivity at work — and how they hope the company will reverse course.

The feedback comes from an anonymous survey created by Amazon employees and viewed by luck On Tuesday, company employees shared the message widely on the messaging app Slack, including a Slack “remote advocacy” channel with more than 30,000 members that was created by a former employee when Amazon first announced its three-day return-to-office mandate last year.

As a result, employees who support remote or hybrid work may have been more likely to respond to the survey, thus potentially skewing the results.

As of the afternoon of Sept. 24, the average satisfaction rating regarding the RTO mandate among survey respondents was 1.4 on a scale of 5 (where 1 is “completely dissatisfied” and 5 is “completely satisfied”). The survey creators said in the introduction to their questionnaire that they plan to compile the results and share them via email with Jassy and other company executives “to provide them with a clear view of the impact of this policy on employees, including the challenges that have been identified and proposed solutions.”

“We are seeking honest and constructive feedback on the recent decision to require a 5-day return-to-office schedule,” the survey introduction reads.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.

Amazon had been using a hybrid work structure for the past 15 months before Jassy’s recent surprise announcement that most of the company’s employees would be required to work a full five-day work week from a local Amazon office starting in January.

“When we look back over the past five years, we continue to believe that the benefits of being together in the office are significant.” Jassie wrote Last week. “I’ve described these benefits before, but in short, we’ve noticed that it’s easier for teammates to learn, model, practice, and reinforce our culture; collaboration, brainstorming, and invention are easier and more effective; teaching and learning from each other is more fluid; and teams tend to be more connected to each other.”

The jassy interpretation of the new mandate, and the second that announced a plan to cut middle management, were an implicit admission of the eroding corporate culture within Amazon in recent years, luck Recently detailed.

luck Amazon has spoken to and sent letters to dozens of employees since last week’s announcement, with most opposing Jassy’s decision on grounds including decreased productivity during workdays in the office and leadership’s lack of trust in rank-and-file employees and managers, based on the change in paid time policy. They also complained about the impact the policy will have on single parents and the lack of data to explain the decision from a company whose leaders often talk about making data-backed decisions.

However, some have praised the move in communications with luck They argued that using the length or cost of commutes as an excuse to avoid five days a week in the office would have seemed ridiculous just a few years ago, before the pandemic.

However, most participants opposed the change or pointed to the complications the new policy would create.

“I work with people across multiple time zones,” one response read. “With RTO, they no longer have the flexibility to change hours and collaborate easily. 3 days had an immediate impact here, 5 days would only be worse.”

As for the solution, the employee suggested “more realistic work expectations if we are looking to eliminate working from home.”

“Amazon used to have people work 5-10 extra hours a week because we didn’t commute,” the employee said. “Overtime means we no longer have the extra time to commit to Amazon and employee expectations need to be adjusted to reflect that. Similarly, we need to accept that overtime puts a hard limit on meeting times. I can no longer join an 8 a.m. meeting with people at HQ2 or on the East Coast. When I was home, I could easily join early or late meetings, but I’m physically unable to do that now.”

Many participants focused on the trust or mistrust factor, and the fear expressed by many employees, that the move could lead to an exit of top talent who could easily find work elsewhere, while other groups are left with fewer options.

“The first ones to leave are the strong engineers you want to work with,” one wrote. “The others who can’t find new jobs or can’t leave because of their visas are miserable and quietly leave. Anyone who leaves and actually wants to work has to make up for the shortfall.”

Another, echoing the views of others, said they thought it “ignores the challenge of asking people to come into the office, but having all their work and every meeting done via alarm or video conference.”

Most of those who chose “satisfied” or “very satisfied” either left no feedback beyond their rating, or left a negative feedback indicating that they may have mistakenly chosen a positive rating.

The bad news for those unhappy with the new back-to-office rule is that when a group of Amazon employees sent a six-page memo to leadership last year arguing for the original three-day mandate to be rescinded, it was rejected. With Jassy and his team still holding their ground, it’s hard to imagine these results will lead to much change.

Are you a current or former Amazon employee with thoughts on this topic or advice you’d like to share? Contact Jason Del Rey at Jason Delery@fortune.com, Jason Delery@protonmail.comOr through the secure messaging app Signal on 917-655-4267You can also message him. On LinkedIn Or in @Dealry on X.