Amazon is mandating a sweeping relocation policy for thousands of U.S.-based corporate employees, requiring them to move to central offices in Seattle, Arlington, and Washington, D.C.—or resign. The directive, which offers just 30 days to make a decision and 60 days to act, comes without severance for those who opt not to move.
The decision reflects Amazon’s broader shift toward centralized, in-person collaboration and a heightened focus on efficiency as fears of AI-related job displacement grow.
This stark policy marks a major reset in the company’s workforce strategy. Amazon (AMZN) is intensifying its push to, as CEO Andy Jassy puts it, “operate like the world’s largest startup.”
Back in January, employees were ordered to return to the office five days a week, up from the three-day hybrid model that had been in place post-pandemic.
Jassy reiterated his no-nonsense stance during a March internal meeting, saying the best leaders “get the most done with the least amount of resources required to do the job.”
In his annual shareholder letter the following month, Jassy doubled down:
“It’s a false binary to argue that you can move fast or deliver high standards,” he wrote. “If you want to be fast, you can be fast, and still be high quality. We’ve done it for many years (though we can still be faster).”
Just this week, Jassy raised the stakes even higher with a memo warning employees that artificial intelligence could soon displace many roles:
“As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,” he said. “We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs… this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”
According to a Bloomberg report, Amazon informed affected employees of the relocation requirement during one-on-one meetings and town halls. One employee shared that their manager told the team they had 30 days to decide whether to relocate, followed by a 60-day window to either move or resign—with no severance for those who choose the latter.
An Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg:
“We hear from the majority of our teammates that they love the energy from being located together, and whenever someone chooses to or is asked to relocate, we work with them to offer support based on their individual circumstances.”
Amazon isn’t alone in pushing workers back to the office. In April, IBM announced a similar policy, requiring employees to return to an office three days a week, offering relocation assistance for those living more than 50 miles away. Apple made a comparable move last January, giving its AI team in San Diego until the end of February to relocate to Austin, Texas.
Amazon’s decision marks another signal that Big Tech is moving past the flexibility of pandemic-era work policies—and entering a new era of consolidation, cost-cutting, and AI-driven workforce shifts.
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