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Amazon’s 5-day return-to-office policy may be restoring discipline, but it’s costing the company in the war for tech talent.
An internal document and accounts from Amazon insiders show that the company’s aggressive in-office work policy and requirement to move near designated “hub” offices are hampering recruiting efforts.
The hub strategy is listed as one of the “hotly debated topics” for Amazon’s recruiters, as it is limiting the ability to hire “high-demand talent, like those with GenAI skills,” according to the internal document from late last year, obtained by Business Insider.
Some Amazon recruiters told Business Insider that, starting last year, they saw an increase in candidates declining job offers specifically because of RTO. Those people were open to lower pay from other companies in exchange for the flexibility to work remotely.
One of the recruiters said the company is losing out on tech talent due to this. The people who spoke with Business Insider asked not to be identified discussing sensitive topics.
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In addition to the strict RTO rules, Amazon has flagged its unusual pay structure and lagging AI reputation as obstacles to recruitment, BI previously reported.
The stakes are high. Amazon is racing to stay ahead in the highly competitive generative AI space, but without attracting top talent, the company risks falling behind.
Oracle, for example, has hired away more than 600 Amazon employees in the past 2 years because Amazon’s strict RTO policy has made poaching easier, Bloomberg reported recently.
In an email to BI, Amazon’s spokesperson said that the premise of this story was wrong, adding that the company continues to attract and retain some of the best people in the world.”
“We are always looking for ways to optimize our recruiting strategies and looking at alternate talent rich locations,” the spokesperson said.
Many firms are tightening RTO, but Amazon stands out. It demands 5 days in-office and ties compliance to promotions and performance reviews. Those who refuse to relocate to “hubs” are considered by Amazon to have voluntarily resigned.
“We continue to believe that teams produce the best results when they’re collaborating and inventing in person, and we’ve observed that to be true now that we’ve had most people back in the office each day for some time,” the Amazon spokesperson said.
Wall Street is already noticing. A recent report by venture capital firm SignalFire found Amazon on the lower end of engineer retention, behind Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
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