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After Forced Return-to-Office, Some Amazon Workers Find Not Enough Desks, No Parking (nypost.com) 151

Amazon has angered its workers again "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."
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After Forced Return-to-Office, Some Amazon Workers Find Not Enough Desks, No Parking

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  • by larryjoe ( 135075 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @01:37AM (#65102231)

    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.

    • by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @03:46AM (#65102317)

      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.

    • The fact that other companies haven't planned well for office space, doesn't let Amazon off the hook.

      And there are many companies, like mine, that are doing quite well, growing by double digits each year, and allow work-from-home, with no plans to call people back to the office. In fact, we recently shut down our Austin office, despite 5 years remaining on the lease, because not enough people were coming in. Maybe Amazon can sublease some of our space!

    • "It was simply accepted as a common characteristic of a growing company."

      Except it isn't. It's a common characteristic of a mismanaged company. The company should how what rate it is hiring people and in what locations and therefore should be able to plan physical facilities and equipment for the same timeframe. This is why you employ people with degrees in business administration to administer your business.

      "The main way to avoid being overcrowded at work is to work for a company that is not growing and no

      • "It was simply accepted as a common characteristic of a growing company."

        Except it isn't. It's a common characteristic of a mismanaged company.

        Sometimes but not always. Take Nvidia, for example. They allow an extreme about of flexibility. Only people who have lab work are required to come to the office. Despite that, desk and parking space is hard to find, and that's not due to mismanagement but to growth. It's also due to some percentage of workers workers personally determining that it's to their advantage to come to the office.

        • Take Nvidia, for example. They allow an extreme about of flexibility. Only people who have lab work are required to come to the office. Despite that, desk and parking space is hard to find, and that's not due to mismanagement but to growth.

          Management's primary job is to make sure that workers can work. QED, Nvidia is being mismanaged if the workers can't find parking or desks. You seem to be confused as to what a manager is for, they are not a checkbox and they are not a warm corpus. They have a role.

  • by tom_asdf ( 8560347 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @02:15AM (#65102259)
    People say government workers are all incompetent and couldn't manage a piss up at a brewery ...
    Amazon's management are clearly hopeless and screwed up the Return To Office. Makes government bureaucrats look good!
    • This is actually happening to the Canadian government in Ottawa. Very similar scenario. Not enough desks, rat infested buildings, complete chaos.

      And the government is doing it because downtown business owners are having a hard time. It's madness.

      https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada... [www.cbc.ca]
      https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada... [www.cbc.ca]

      Literally everything is worse under this system. For a government that pays lip-service to climate action, it's absolutely unwilling to do even small-scale things like let people work from home and no

  • Almost as if- (Score:5, Insightful)

    by locater16 ( 2326718 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @02:17AM (#65102265)
    the return to work policies were the arbitrary whims of narcissistic cruelty rather than anything thought out.
  • by shilly ( 142940 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @02:22AM (#65102271)

    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:5, Insightful)

    by Freischutz ( 4776131 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @02:39AM (#65102277)

    After Forced Return-to-Office, Some Amazon Workers Find Not Enough Desks, No Parking

    Unbounded management genius strikes again.

    • 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.

      • 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!!".

  • No desks? (Score:5, Funny)

    by votsalo ( 5723036 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @04:34AM (#65102379)
    Why don't they order doors from Amazon, and build desks quickly?
    • The drivers (who are outsourced to another company and only wear Amazon uniforms and drive vehicles with Amazon on the side) got so pissed off and stressed by all of the negative reviews from this particular customer, that they decided to dump Amazon's packages in the woods and go to the beach to smoke a bowl instead.
  • They should just buy some desks at Amazon. If there is no space, Bezos' home office can fit thousands of desks

    • Every time you blame Jeff Bezos for a current action by Amazon Andy Jassy earns a million pairs of wings.

  • 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

    • If parking is paid for by your employer, then I can see the logic of it being taxed as a benefit in lieu of income. If itâ(TM)s on the employerâ(TM)s land and thereâ(TM)s no subsidisation, then is it still taxed and how is the amount determined?

      • by pereric ( 528017 )

        If it's provided directly by the employer, the taxable value is based on the price of commercial indoor or on-street parking in the neighborhood. Which can vary quite a lot between urban and rural, for example.

        • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

          Seems pretty weird unless you're specifically trying to discourage driving. Should your employer provided desk also be taxable as a benefit? How about the light they provide while you're at work?

          • Why would that be weird? Unlike your desk or office light, parking space for a private motor vehicle is certainly not something you need to get your job done. Only - perhaps - for getting to the job, which is usually something you pay yourself.

            And yes, of course we try to discourage driving. Better for everyone - less congestion, less costs for widening roads, better air quality ... and employees switching to riding instead of driving usually have less sick days, which is probably of interest to employers.

    • Riding a bicycle on public roads in the USA is a death wish. If you plan on killing someone, do it with your vehicle. You'll face minimal or even no punishment.

    • by kriston ( 7886 )

      Amazon HQ2 is purposefully being built with less parking than would be normal for a complex its size.

  • 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.

    • Thatâ(TM)s a bit of an overreaction, donâ(TM)t you think? Perhaps work reduced hours for that day by finishing at the same time youâ(TM)d have left the office, complain to your manager about it and donâ(TM)t attempt to go in again until they solve the problem.

    • Thanks to at will employment they'll just fire you.

  • Whenever I see a story like this about a company that has issued a mandate without thinking it through I see it as a market signal, sell sell sell. The logic is simple, what it tells me is that the executives of that company have lost touch with the business. At a minimum I expect them to at least have the facts and figures available to them to make decisions. If they are screwing up on stuff like this, then you can bet they're making other bad business decisions just because they honestly don't know what i
    • RTO was a stealth layoff attempt, but the economic outlook is bad enough too many people caved and came back to the office.

      They knew they didn't have the space, they didn't care. I fact, the unpleasant conditions now are probably not unwelcomed, because it will convince a few more to leave without further fuss.

  • 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.

  • by Bruce66423 ( 1678196 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @05:34AM (#65102465)

    It's interesting to speculate precisely who these are, though the banks are on the hook for vast loans based on office blocks are probably part of the fans of this absurd move, along with their regulators who don't want another bank bailout. Sadly if the vast majority of big companies have obeyed the RTO instruction, the best solution - firms that haven't will gain massive competitive advantage - probably won't kick in; such was the failure of the market over racial discrimination for many decades.

    • by tsqr ( 808554 )

      I guess the CEO of my company didn't get the memo - WFH is still very much in effect here.

      • My entire company went WFH and everyone loves it. (Around 350K employees).

        The only ones still going onsite are the guys who tend the data centers, and that's about it.

        • I hope you continue to prosper despite going against the memo. If I knew the name of your company I'm not sure if I'd buy shares because it's obviously got the sense to use WFH, or sell because it will be upsetting those who are delegitimating it.

          • I hope you continue to prosper despite going against the memo.

            I am prospering very well, and no, I didn't miss the memo. The memo was basically:

            "Do you want to work from home?"
            [_] YES
            [_] NO

            Everyone and I mean EVERYONE clicked "YES", and that was that. They closed almost all of the external offices and 99% of us work from home now. Again, ~350,000 employees said "yes" and they listened.

            I honestly cannot imagine a scenario where we'd go back into an office. It's just not happening. They'd have to acquire a ton of office spaces all over the world (literally hundreds of a

  • by TractorBarry ( 788340 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @05:37AM (#65102471) Homepage

    If I was working at a place as bad as this I'd just get another job. Any job at all just to get out.

    If you put up with people treating you like shit, they will. In which case it's entirely your own fault for being a doormat.

  • Hotdesking (Score:5, Interesting)

    by devslash0 ( 4203435 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @06:34AM (#65102539)

    I bet it's all hotdesking, too. The scourge of modern offices. How is one to feel at ease, psychologically safe and therefore most productive if they sit in a different place every time?

    There's also another angle to it. You've got to carry all your laptops and chargers with you. At the same time most corporate equipment policies say that you're not allowed to leave them in public lockers (gyms, for example). This means that the job is restricting your personal freedom to do what you need to do in your life before and/or after work. You've got to go home first to drop off your gear before you go anywhere after work or you've got to accept potential consequences of losing your laptop.

    • by Entrope ( 68843 )

      You lose that bet because you did not read TFS: "Employees at Amazon's Toronto office said their personal belongings have repeatedly been stolen from their desks."

      People don't leave personal belongings at hotdesks.

  • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Monday January 20, 2025 @06:40AM (#65102551) Homepage Journal

    There could be no more conclusive proof that this RTO mandate is a form of quiet firing than there not being enough desks for all of the employees.

    Bezos is an even sleazier pile of shit than Musk. One just doesn't notice as often because he knows how to keep his yap shut about how he's treating people.

  • Two things (Score:5, Interesting)

    by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Monday January 20, 2025 @06:48AM (#65102567)

    1) How did they operate before? They didn't have this mess prior to everyone going home, did they? How could they suddenly not have enough parking spaces and rooms?

    2) Where were the project managers? These are the folks who should have been taking into account the needs of all the people coming back. Enough office space, enough chairs, enough this, enough that. Did they not do this? Did they half-ass it by simply looking around? Did they not talk to anyone?

    Or is this one of those move fast, break things situation?

    • 2020 was several years ago, they've grown considerably since then, and didn't have to plan for incremental office space increases since then.

  • Parking was always a problem but everyone had a desk.
    The pandemic proved people could work at home productively.
    The government downsized its office space b/c big cost savings.
    Then the political winds changed and the government decided its workers needed to be back in the office.
    The existing office space is on average half of what it was.
    Coming to work now means the employee may not actually even have a desk, despite schemes like desk reservation, etc.
    Ironically, employees come to work to engage in remote me

  • ..one employee from Amazon's Nashville office "said the wait time for a company parking pass was backed up for months."

    Uh, the wait time for the company parking pass is backed up?

    If Amazon is the company in question here, this is a bit like them claiming their Prime memberships are suddenly out of stock.

    The company either wants their employees back in the office via the damn parking lot, or they don’t. Which is it? Don’t tell me the 1-Click Wonder can’t efficiently process a fucking parking pass purchase.

  • I contracted for a large company in Australia and there were no seats with my team mates. When I repeatedly brought this up they kept saying, yes we only have seats for 80% of people due to work from home polices. But at least on this floor, there was never anything available.

    It sort of blew my mind that they would pay my day rate yet.. how can I work without a desk?

    Company polices have a big disconnect from reality.

  • It's brilliant! You need to arrive early to find a chair. If you're left standing you get a pick slip, and the company claims your job was redundant and will be replaced by AI! Stocks surge as labor costs decrease and the CEO receives a handsome bonus!! What could possibly go wrong?
  • "Come back to the office so you can stand in the hallway"

  • Oh, as a bonus, it turned Seattle area traffic into a nightmare again overnight.

    If Amazon hadn't built such an enormous lead on logistics and e-commerce, it would have collapsed into ashes long ago. But, as it stands, there is no limit to the dumb they can do right now.

    Then again, organized labor is bad, right. No need to fight against the whims of executives who know better.

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