Historically, Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc were very office-centric. Their in-office perks were pretty much legendary and they always tried to instill the company culture built around being together in an office space. They invested heavily in real estate for this very reason. So it shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody that they are pushing for full attendance back in the office. They will gradually go back to a 5-days a week in the office, mark my words.

For smaller companies, this is great news. And not just this Amazon news, but the whole push of the bigger companies to force people back to the office. We were not able to fully compete with Amazon, Google or Facebook on salaries, but now we are in the position to offer attractive flexibility options (i.e. 100% remote) to people who value their time and work-life balance more than money. Engineers' salaries are very high already, and not everybody needs the absolute high-end salaries offered by these huge companies. I believe this might help spur more innovation and create attractive workplaces outside of the FAANG companies, as some of the very best talent will now have viable reasons to work for smaller companies and help them grow.

It's really horrible for people who joined Amazon last year, believing that they will be able to work remotely forever. Let this be a cautionary tale to everybody who decides to work for FAANG in the future.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that a company run by Harvard MBA's makes decisions without data.

Regardless, Amazon has always been a relatively hostile workplace. Their philosophy towards engineers is to churn and burn them.

A friend of mine lives about 25 minutes from a very large Amazon office via public transport, but he is being told to relocate to the other side of the country. Other members of his team are being assigned to different offices, so this will end up being an in-person remote job (if he sticks around - not likely).

> During the meeting, which is known in internal Amazon lingo as a “fishbowl” meeting, Jassy declined to share data that motivated his decision to require employees to return to the office.

And here I thought I didn't need to tap the sign anymore. Here's another link on the chain [0]

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36434455

"During the meeting, which is known in internal Amazon lingo as a “fishbowl” meeting, Jassy declined to share data that motivated his decision to require employees to return to the office. The CEO told his charges it was a “judgment” call."

Amazon CEO doesn’t realize they’ll lose out on talent and miss out on talent.

I’ll never work in office again unless I need to work with machines or hardware I don’t have access to at home.

I think the conceptual theory of the do nothing Management is bubbling up here.

Maybe not the CEO, but office management and head count, office politics and derivative work likely makes a large portion of day to day work. Without an office, there's probably a lot of useless management.

Maybe they're like oil to the engine of business or, like blinker fluid.

Bravo to the folks sticking to their guns and not giving into this. I wish I can but I'm in a single breadwinner and not in a financial position to do so.