After Forced Return-to-Office, Some Amazon Workers Find Not Enough Desks, No Parking (nypost.com) 32
Amazon has angered its workers "after forcing them to return to the office five days a week," reports the New York Post. The problem? "Not enough desks for everyone." (As well as "packed parking lots" that are turning some workers away.)
The Post cites interviews conducted with seven Amazon employees by Business Insider (which notes that in mid-December Amazon had already "delayed full return-to-office at dozens of locations, sometimes until as late as May, because of office-capacity issues).
Here in mid-January, the Post writes, many returning-to-office workers still aren't happy: Some meeting rooms have not had enough chairs — and there also have not been enough meeting rooms for everyone, one worker told the publication... [S]imply reaching the office is a challenge in itself, according to the report. Some complained they were turned away from company parking lots that were full, while others griped about having to join meetings from the road due to excess traffic on their way to the office, according to the Slack messages. Once staffers conquer the challenges of reaching the office and finding a desk, some lamented the lack of in-person discussions since many of the meetings remain virtual, according to BI.
Amazon acknowledged they had offices that were "not quite ready" to "welcome everyone back a full five days a week," according to Post, though Amazon believed the number of not-quite-ready offices were "relatively small".
But the parking lot situation may continue. Business Insider says one employee from Amazon's Nashville office "said the wait time for a company parking pass was backed up for months." (Although another Nashville staffer said Amazon was handing out passes for them to take mass-transit for free, which they'd described as "incredibly generous.")
There's also Amazon shuttle busses, according to the article. Although other staffers "said they were denied a spot on Amazon shuttle buses because the vehicles were full..." Others said they just drove back home, while some staffers found street parking nearby, according to multiple Slack messages seen by Business Insider...
This month, some employees were still questioning the logic behind the policy. They said being in the office has had little effect on their work routine and has not generated much of a productivity gain. A considerable portion of their in-office work is still being done through video calls with customers who are elsewhere, these employees told BI. Many Amazon colleagues are at other office locations, so face-to-face meetings still don't happen very often, they added.
The Post adds another drawback of returning to the office. "Employees at Amazon's Toronto office said their personal belongings have repeatedly been stolen from their desks."
The Post cites interviews conducted with seven Amazon employees by Business Insider (which notes that in mid-December Amazon had already "delayed full return-to-office at dozens of locations, sometimes until as late as May, because of office-capacity issues).
Here in mid-January, the Post writes, many returning-to-office workers still aren't happy: Some meeting rooms have not had enough chairs — and there also have not been enough meeting rooms for everyone, one worker told the publication... [S]imply reaching the office is a challenge in itself, according to the report. Some complained they were turned away from company parking lots that were full, while others griped about having to join meetings from the road due to excess traffic on their way to the office, according to the Slack messages. Once staffers conquer the challenges of reaching the office and finding a desk, some lamented the lack of in-person discussions since many of the meetings remain virtual, according to BI.
Amazon acknowledged they had offices that were "not quite ready" to "welcome everyone back a full five days a week," according to Post, though Amazon believed the number of not-quite-ready offices were "relatively small".
But the parking lot situation may continue. Business Insider says one employee from Amazon's Nashville office "said the wait time for a company parking pass was backed up for months." (Although another Nashville staffer said Amazon was handing out passes for them to take mass-transit for free, which they'd described as "incredibly generous.")
There's also Amazon shuttle busses, according to the article. Although other staffers "said they were denied a spot on Amazon shuttle buses because the vehicles were full..." Others said they just drove back home, while some staffers found street parking nearby, according to multiple Slack messages seen by Business Insider...
This month, some employees were still questioning the logic behind the policy. They said being in the office has had little effect on their work routine and has not generated much of a productivity gain. A considerable portion of their in-office work is still being done through video calls with customers who are elsewhere, these employees told BI. Many Amazon colleagues are at other office locations, so face-to-face meetings still don't happen very often, they added.
The Post adds another drawback of returning to the office. "Employees at Amazon's Toronto office said their personal belongings have repeatedly been stolen from their desks."
Meeting Rooms? (Score:2)
"Some meeting rooms have not had enough chairs — and there also have not been enough meeting rooms for everyone"
I thought people said that they didn't need to have in-person meetings?
Re:Meeting Rooms? (Score:5, Informative)
Staffers grew used to taking private phone calls throughout the day at their homes, the source said. Now, back in the office, they're ducking into empty meeting rooms to take these calls, which is causing a shortage — and leading some managers to have private chats with employees out in the open, the worker said.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I imagine a manager would just tell somebody on the phone to leave if they needed the room for a full blown meeting.
From the sound of it I'm imagining the managers do not have private offices so would typically use empty meeting rooms for private conversations.
Re: Meeting Rooms? (Score:2)
Huh? Just tell them to leave (Score:2)
Presumably they're doing it on their mobile phones, not a company phone so it'll be quite obvious its a personal call so why doesn't the manager just find a pair and tell them to get out the room. Whats the problem?
Re: (Score:3)
Then why come in at all? If Amazon are insisting that people DO need to do meetings face to face then having the ability to do so would seem a basic prerequisite. If they do NOT think the face to face needs to happen, then requiring them to work from office is mystifying.
Re: Meeting Rooms? (Score:3)
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If there wasn't enough parking and desks and they said I MUST return to office, I would probably just quit. They basically invited me back without saving me a space, which would show how they value me as an employee at that point.
Re: (Score:2)
Says the anonymous coward that's probably just AGI adding a comment.
Not ideal, but not new (Score:4, Insightful)
Even before the pandemic, the company I worked for (a large, growing company) had problems with finding desks and parking spots for all workers. It was simply accepted as a common characteristic of a growing company. Our company had a flexible work policy even before the pandemic, but most people chose to come to the office for whatever reason.
The main way to avoid being overcrowded at work is to work for a company that is not growing and not doing that well financially. I used to visit Google (for a free lunch) with a friend about 20 years ago. People and desks were stuffed into room, hallways, and everywhere else. Finding parking was impossible. When I go for a free Google lunch now, people and desks are not crowded anymore and parking is not hard to find. And that's not a good sign for Google.
Re: Not ideal, but not new (Score:2)
The main way to avoid being overcrowded at work is to work for a company that is not growing and not doing that well financially.
Or work for a company that is doing well financially and allows work from home.
Government Employees better organised (Score:2)
Amazon's management are clearly hopeless and screwed up the Return To Office. Makes government bureaucrats look good!
Almost as if- (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
If experiences in other businesses is anything to go by, it's an underhanded way to get people to quit to reduce headcount.
Poor fit with actual operations (Score:3)
I am very, very confident that Amazon has literally hundreds, probably thousands, of employees whose work is exclusively as part of multi-location teams, for whom this RTO mandate is a terrible fit with their actual work. All that happens for these teams is they now have to come to the local office to do their VCs with their colleagues, and when they get there it's distractingly loud and busy, frustratingly non-private, and they've wasted time on the commute.
I've said it here before but it bears repeating: working for a big tech company, I'm in London, and my managees are in Orlando, Seattle, Devon, Munich and Bengalaru, I have no London colleagues I need to meet, and we all spend all our time on calls with colleagues all over the world. Our way of work is totally unremarkable at my company, and I'll bet it is very familiar to lots of Amazon teams too.
Whenever I do training, I'm struck by the following: despite the distributed nature of my team, the training videos all show in-person teams, and yet the training itself is virtual -- and the training is something that really should be done in-person, because it's all interpersonal skills which ought to be done live with colleagues and led by an experienced live-trainer.
Yay! (Score:2)
After Forced Return-to-Office, Some Amazon Workers Find Not Enough Desks, No Parking
Unbounded management genius strikes again.
Re: (Score:2)
Local coffee shops rejoice though.
Honestly I though this was going to go the other way and there'd be investment in small towns rather than mega office structures.
Re: (Score:2)
Local coffee shops rejoice though.
Honestly I though this was going to go the other way and there'd be investment in small towns rather than mega office structures.
Your faith in the anticipatory skills of modern CEO and management geniuses far exceeds mine. Right about Amazon managers they are holding a meeting somewhere with Jeff Bezos at the head of the table and the consensus is: "Nobody could possibly have anticipated this!!".
Re: (Score:2)
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No desks? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No desks? (Score:2)
They should just buy some desks at Amazon. If there is no space, Bezos' home office can fit thousands of desks
No alternative to driving? (Score:2)
In a normal city (from my European perspective), most employees can get to work by transit or cycling. Many, if not all, do. And if parking is hard to find, there tends to be an equilibrium where some changes from driving to other transportation (or working from home), freeing parking space. There price of parking may also affect modal choice - since a few years, free parking at work is considered an employment benefit at least in Sweden, and should be paid tax for. Which kind of makes sense - a free transi
Context: I am not American (Score:2)
As a non American I don't typically turn to the legal system every opportunity, but if I were forced to return to the office only to be turned away because there was no where to sit or not where to park my car the next person HR would be hearing from is a lawyer.
Sell Sell Sell, Time to go short on $AMZN (Score:2)
Hmmmph... whatever. (Score:2)
It's a logistical problem. In the short term it will be chaotic, then it'll settle out. Shouldn't be newsworthy. Now if had been seamlessly implemented and everything was buttoned up perfectly, now that would have been worth a read.