AWS CEO Matt Garman reveals why Amazon discontinued remote work: 'Everyone picked a...'

Matt Garman expressed his view that in-office work is essential to fostering innovation and operational success.

In a recent statement, Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman doubled down on Amazon's decision to implement a strict five-day, in-office mandate for employees starting next year. The announcement, which has sparked significant employee response, will end the current three-day-per-week office attendance and require employees to return full-time to Amazon offices.

The move, intended to enhance innovation and operational success, has been met with some backlash, as employees argue that hybrid and remote setups better support productivity and work-life balance, Business Insider India reported.

At The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event on Monday night, Garman highlighted the importance of in-person collaboration to “innovation” and “speed of execution,” citing impromptu hallway conversations and quick brainstorms at whiteboards as advantages unique to physical office spaces. "Particularly as we think about how we want to disrupt and invent on behalf of our customers, we find there is no substitution for doing that in person," he stated, underscoring that the creative energy and iterative speed are enhanced through face-to-face interactions.

He added that remote settings often miss out on such spontaneous encounters, which are instrumental for cross-departmental collaboration and casual idea exchanges.

Garman further explained that Amazon initially attempted a hybrid model with a three-day minimum office attendance, but it fell short of expectations since employees often chose different sets of three days, leading to inconsistent in-office presence.

This new mandate, he explained, will return Amazon to a culture more aligned with its pre-pandemic work model, which Senior Vice President Beth Galetti echoed in her recent remarks. She emphasised that many junior staff members see value in in-person mentorship and have expressed a desire for more direct interaction with colleagues.

This shift by Amazon is part of a larger pattern among tech firms reassessing work models. Recently, similar return-to-office policies by companies like Google and Meta highlight an ongoing debate within the industry about balancing office work’s collaborative benefits against the flexibility of remote setups.

Meanwhile, according to CNBC, around 37,000 Amazon employees joined a Slack channel advocating for remote work, voicing concerns that the new policy could affect the flexibility they’ve relied on to balance work with personal commitments.