Amazon (AMZN +0.96%) announced on Thursday that it is following the lead of a number of other tech companies and recalling workers to the office, but only for three days a week. Employees will be allowed to continue to work out of their homes the other two days.
As the economy continues reopening after the pandemic, companies that allowed employees to telecommute to their jobs have begun opening their offices again, but are doing so tentatively, only for a few days a week.
Among those who have moved to the 3-and-2 schedule of office and home working include Apple (AAPL +0.52%), Google, IBM (IBM +2.05%), and salesforce.com (CRM 0.99%).
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In a post on the aboutamazon.com site, Amazon said it is trying to balance what provides flexibility for its employees, but also what works best for customers.
As a result, some employees like hardware engineers and those in frontline operations will continue to work from the office, just as they always have, while others, such as sales and customer service employees, can continue working from home. Everyone else will adopt a hybrid schedule, though exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Conversely, corporate employees will have the option to work remotely for up to four weeks out of the year with no expectation they need to show up at the office.
While many would view the flexibility companies are offering as a benefit, some employees still see it as a burden. Apple employees recently sent CEO Tim Cook an open letter demanding they be allowed to continue working from home, expressing disappointment he didn't take into account their feelings about returning to the office.
They said Apple's record earnings show a remote workforce works, and they should be able to work from home if they want.
