Amazon, Intel and other tech companies acknowledge rejecting remote work could cost them talent
Several companies are acknowledging that competitors with more flexible work arrangements may pose a significant risk to their businesses. Amazon, Pinterest, Intel and PayPal all mentioned, for the first time ever, that evolving work environments could impact their ability to attract or retain employees, according to annual filings released in recent days.
And it shows, more than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, big tech companies are still weighing how and whether to bring employees back to the office and the risks associated with getting everyone back under one roof. Some white-collar tech employees are eager for offices to reopen, while others have bristled at the thought of returning to their desks and embraced remote work. Companies are capitalizing on that desire for flexibility by offering new hires tantalizing perks like the ability to set their own schedule or work from anywhere.
A growing contingent of tech companies have opted to make remote work the norm, including Facebook, Twitter and Shopify. Others like Dropbox and Atlassian are ditching the idea of a centralized campus and are allowing employees to work from satellite locations disbursed across the country. Coinbase, GiLlab and HashiCorp, which all went public last year, either operate without an official headquarters or have a main campus, but advertise a “remote-first” workforce.
Tech workers now have a spectrum of choices when it comes to workplace flexibility. Even the likes of Google, Amazon and Apple, which have long poured money into elaborate headquarters, some with perks like free meals and napping pods, moved to offer more options, though they’re not as lenient as some other tech companies.
Before the emergence of the omicron variant delayed return-to-work plans, Google, Amazon and Apple had indicated employees would be expected to return to physical offices a few days a week. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy previously told CNBC he felt a hybrid work environment would be the most practical approach in a post-pandemic world. “I don’t think you’re going to have people coming back to the office 100% of the time the way they did before,” Jassy said.
CNBC
