‘Decide in 30 days or resign without severance’: Amazon asks employees to relocate closer to their teams | Company Business News

Amazon has asked some of its employees to relocate closer to their managers and teams or resign without a severance package, according to a new report.

As per a Bloomberg report quoting people familiar with the development, some corporate workers have been ordered to move to cities like Seattle, Arlington, Virginia, and Washington DC, which can mean that many have to move across the country.

Amazon relocation policy brings waves of worry among employees

The new relocation policy of Amazon has come as another reason for employees to worry as they already reel under tensions about job cuts and warnings from the management that artificial intelligence will shrink their importance in the coming years. According to one source cited by Bloomberg, the new policy will affect thousands of Amazon employees across several teams.

The person said that mid-career employees with children in schools and spouses with established careers are not keen on relocating elsewhere.

Decide in 30 days or leave

Bloomberg reported that employees have been sharing information about the new relocation policy of Amazon in their internal slack channels.

One employee, according to the news agency, said that their team manager informed them about the need of relocation. The manager reportedly told his team that they has 30 days to make a decision about reloating. Thereafter, they will have 60 days to either resign or begin their relocation process.

The manager also said that there would be no severance for employees who resigned in lieu of relocating.

Amazon speaks

Talking about the Amazon relocation policy, a spokesperson told Bloomberg that “for more than a year now, some teams have been working to bring their teammates closer together to help them be as effective as possible, but there isn’t a one-size-fits all approach and there hasn’t been a change in our approach as a company.”

“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,” the spokesperson added.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy earlier this week said generative artificial intelligence will reduce its corporate workforce in the next few years as the online giant begins to increase its usage of the technology.

“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” Jassy said in a message to employees. “It’s hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”