Amazon has revised its policy for disabled employees must go through to gain the permission needed to work from home, according to a new report.
Now, disabled employees will reportedly have to submit to a “multilevel” review that may include month-long in-office trials.
It’s another example of why Amazon is one of the least remote-friendly tech giants around. And it’s impressive that we’re still getting more evidence of this: Previously, the ecommerce company had issued a full crackdown in hybrid working, mandating a shift to five days a week in the office, despite one executive acknowledging they didn’t have data to support a return to office.
Amazon’s New Policy Towards Disability and Working From Home
The latest news comes from Fortune, which has reported for the first time on changes to Amazon’s remote-work policy for employees with disabilities.
Fortune sums up the changes as a “more rigorous vetting process” and specificially quotes internal documents from Amazon that describe this process as a “multilevel leader review.”
This just in! View
the top business tech deals for 2024 👨💻
These changes could include month-long trials of in-office work for disabled employees before a determination is made on if their accomodations meet their needs, although Fortune does not say that these trials will be required for everyone in consideration.
Amazon Denies Claims That Stringent RTO Policies Aim to Slim Workforce
Some critics argue that harsh and sweeping return-to-office policies issued by Amazon and other tech giants like Dell and Ubisoft function to reduce the overall workforce while avoiding out-and-out layoffs that could result in bad press or more employee compensation.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has denied that this is the case at his company, saying earlier this month in an all-hands meeting that: “A number of people I’ve seen theorized that the reason we were doing this is, it’s a backdoor layoff, or we made some sort of deal with city or cities. I can tell you both of those are not true. You know, this was not a cost play for us. This is very much about our culture and strengthening our culture.”
After Amazon announced a full return to the office in September — effective starting in early January 2025 — one survey found that 73% of its employees were considering a new job.
Remote Work Supports Disability Inclusion
The type of flexible and accommodating work environment that Amazon is opposed to is exactly the environment that helps disabled workers earn a living, according to experts in the disabled community.
And it’s not hard to see their point: physically driving to an office presents a clear hurdle for anyone with a disability that restricts physical movement, while completing a full work day in an office may be impossible for some neurodivergent employees with sensory issues. One of my friends suffers from an autoimmune disorder that would make even a month-long in-office trial an immense ordeal, since one case of the flu or Covid could permanently impact their health.
Jassy is right: There’s no denying that Amazon’s stringent in-office policies will shape its culture moving foward.
