Back in the office: Don’t make the same mistake Amazon did

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getting up in the morning. Giant Amazon’s policy of returning to the office three days a week is far from unanimous. However, even though she followed the ideal internal communication guide to the letter, she seemed to be missing a key element for the transition to be smooth: empathy for employees.

In February 2023, the company, which Andy Jassy has run for two years, announced to its employees that it intends to bring them back more often to its various organizations. While some welcomed the news warmly, Reports Interested in tradeNearly 30,000 workers have signed a petition asking management to review its policy.

This attempt did not move the organization, and since May, everyone must travel at least three days a week to their designated place of work, and the activity on their access card is now monitored.

In August, the company sent an email to people who weren’t following the guidelines — and coincidentally some who followed them to the letter — reminding them that they should not just go to one of its offices, but to the office assigned to their team. .

Amazon said that if employees cannot go to these “centers,” they have two options: change teams or resign.

“The assertiveness with which senior management lays out their desires without necessarily appearing to be having discussions with key stakeholders is surprising,” says Clara Demers, practice leader at business transformation consultancy Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. And in 2023, we will no longer be able to manage our people in this way.

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“We’re no longer in arm wrestling,” says Clara Demers, practice leader at business transformation consultancy Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. (photo courtesy)

In itself, an employer can legitimately decide where his team members should work, by exercising his right to manage. However, different approaches make it possible to mobilize employees to make their decision, even if they are postponed, stresses the expert in organizational performance based in Chicoutimi.

Obviously, the employer must ensure that it provides a pleasant place to work, and an environment that adapts to the new expectations of workers who may be accustomed to the quiet of their homes.

People must also be able to exchange, collaborate, create and innovate, actions that are best done face-to-face, as numerous studies have shown over the past two years, recalls Clara Demers.

Therefore, the appeal of returning to the office should not rely solely on social events such as team dinners, team-building activities, or happy hours.

“We must reinforce these benefits, create new habits, and encourage employees to come back, without forcing them. You think that the practice of arm wrestling no longer exists. You have to ask them what they want, and understand what bothers them. By inviting them, it will help us organize ourselves and meet their needs.” Better.

By communicating each party’s expectations and collaborating, she says, it will be much easier to get your message across rather than moving forward unilaterally.

Human contact card play

If a return-to-work policy, such as Amazon’s, is accepted without much enthusiasm by its team members, it is possible to correct the situation, believes Clara Demers.

She believes creating a staff committee to gauge the pulse is wise, because it will highlight elements of the guidance that are of concern. Management will then have to find a balance between its own necessities and those of its teams.

“Basically, I think employees need human warmth, to break the isolation. If only that, we should find a way to bring them back to the workplace from time to time,” the manager believes.

To work remotely or not to work remotely, this is the question that is causing turmoil in many companies with the beginning of the 2023 academic year.

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