Amazon recently recruited me for a job, a job that I already do remotely for a different company, and I turned it down for the same reason. The job at amazon paid way more, but I'm far more productive and happier at home.
I see other jobs at amazon that are remote, but this particular department worked with hardware that they weren't interested in leaving the office. Again, I've worked remotely with similar hardware from the company that pioneered this type of hardware and have done so since 2008. We figured out security, remote testing, local development, software simulations, etc. and haven't had a single leak, hack, etc.
I am working for Amazon, fully from home. Zero expectation to ever step into the office. Each organization within Amazon is taking a different approach, leading to a lot of variability. Throwing this information out there in case anyone is put off by assuming that Amazon is demanding a return to office.
I can vouch for this as I am the only east coast employee on my west coast team at AWS and I also have no expectation of moving to west coast or returning to office. I have spoken to managers on other teams around Amazon and flexibility is entirely dependent on your director/VP (the manager 1-2 levels above your group manager).
If you’re considering an offer from Amazon I suggest you make it very clear from the start to your hiring manager your expectations on remote work and working hours. Theres some teams at Amazon that are taking a strong return to office stance and others like
mine that allow for fully remote.
Maybe? I recently interviewed and nobody could tell me what the policy would be in a few months.
“It’s WFH today, but that’ll probably change. And you can always take our bus from your local AWS office to the office where the rest of the team may or may not be because we don’t know what our policy will be.”
I’d expect a company of Amazon’s size and stature to have a better plan than “whatever your VP wants this week.”
Why? The world changes around us, and the best businesses are capable of adapting to suit. It doesn’t make any sense to make promises that one can’t keep. They can’t promise that some teams can WFH forever, because it might not make sense forever. Nor should every team have the same policy, because different teams do different things.
I think it makes more sense to be non-committal than to make promises and then have to renege on them later. The latter makes people much more justifiably upset.
Why? Because people have responsibilities outside of work. People have children and spouses with chronic conditions that require them to be available at a moment’s notice to deal with, for example. And it’s not going to change just because some manager at ConHugeCo wants people back in the office. I cannot take a job without knowing that I’ll be allowed to work a particular way for the foreseeable future, as it just wouldn’t be safe for my family.
And yes, reneging on agreements is bad. Employers need to be forced to understand that humans have rights and their employees are humans. Telling someone their job is remote then changing that 3 months after they start should be illegal. Unfortunately, it’s not, so you’re SOL if you find yourself in that position.
I don’t either, but they could have at least been open about “we’re WFH today but going hybrid as soon as COVID allows.” Instead they waffled and hedged around and wouldn’t commit.
Add in several other factors… 1. the VP and extended team I would have been working with was in Seattle and this position was in VA. 2. There’s an AWS office down the street from my house but they were 100% non-committal about the position being located there (vs the new Arlington HQ2). 3. Would have been a new team with lots of new hires, so I could have just hired them locally (if deemed necessary, though I’ve managed remotely for years now with success so seems silly to me).
From what I hear, policy in general is wildly inconsistent within Amazon. I have heard all sort of stories from people at Amazon ranging from "world's best boss" to "horrific and Dilbertesque".
