A high-profile Amazon executive joined an internal Slack conversation on Tuesday as employee angst over the sudden return-to-office mandate intensified.
Paul Vixie, vice president and distinguished engineer for Amazon Web Services’ cloud unit, wrote in an internal Slack channel that workers should be patient and wait until management shares more details, according to screenshots seen by Business Insider. Vixie is one of the most preeminent computer scientists in the field of security and was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2014.
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But even Vixie acknowledged that I had no idea about the new guideline and that Amazon’s top executives, called the S-team, may not have yet finalized all the details of the plan in advance. He wrote:
“My first work anniversary will be on March 28, so I don’t know what kind of culture we had before, but in my almost one year here I haven’t seen cruel management. Is this how we usually do things? If not, then speculation as to how Jassy’s order will apply should be kept within sensible channels. I am not involved in planning the return to the office, and the announcement may even have preceded a full disclosure by the S-Team. Let’s not fear the worst yet.”
Vixie’s comments were shared on an internal Slack channel called Remote Advocacy. This was created on Friday shortly after CEO Andy Jassy announced that the company would start requiring most employees to be in the office at least 3 days a week starting in May. the slack channel now has more than 14,000 employees They are demanding more flexibility and are working on a petition to fight the decision.
The channel also shows how Amazon’s order to return to the office has not been widely shared even among the most senior employees before its announcement on Friday. Many workers have expressed their frustration with the bluntness and vagueness of Jassy’s announcement on the Slack channel.
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“I don’t know any details. What I think is that balancing the concerns and needs and wants of customers, employee families, and shareholders is downright difficult even on the easiest of days, and we don’t exactly live in easy days,” Vixie added. . “My advice is not to light the torches yet. There’s a lot we don’t know“.
Amazon has preferred not to comment on all of these moves.
