Ecommerce giant Amazon is ordering staff back to the office five days a week as it ends its hybrid work policy, reports BBC News. The change will come into force from January, Amazon’s chief executive Andy Jassy said in a memo to staff. Jassy said, “We’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of Covid. When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant.”

Jassy has long been known as a sceptic of remote work, but Amazon staff were previously allowed to work from home two days a week. “If anything, the last 15 months we’ve been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits,” Jassy said.

Amazon’s push to get corporate staff back into the office has been a source of tension within the firm which employs more than 1.5 million people globally in full-time and part-time roles. Staff at its Seattle, US, headquarters staged a protest last year as the company tightened the full remote work allowance that was put in place during the pandemic. Amazon subsequently fired the organiser of the protest, prompting claims of unfair retaliation, a dispute that has been taken up with labour officials.

In addition to returning to the office five days a week, Amazon said it would be hot-desking in the US. The company said staff could still work from home in unusual circumstances, such as a sick child or house emergency, as was the case before the pandemic. But unless they have been granted an exemption, Mr Jassy said, “Our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances.”

Amazon’s stance contrasts with the UK government’s approach, which has promised to make flexible working a default right from day one as part of a new employment rights bill due to be published next month.