August 24, 2023: As part of the relocation order, Amazon is catching a few employees quitting instead of driving to a unique state.

Several employees spoke about the new relocation requirement. A Texas employee engaged in a little role said managers assured his team in March that everything would stay the same despite the previous month’s return-to-office (RTO) order. But in July, the team was informed by management that they’d have to pick between working out of Seattle, New York, Austin, Texas, or Arlington, Virginia, according to an internal parallel.

Under the guidelines, the paper expresses that remote workers are expected to have finished their move to a central hub by the first half of 2024. The employee, who doesn’t live close to designated cities, chose to leave Amazon after securing another position, partially due to uncertainty about future job security and the potential of higher living costs associated with the relocation with no guarantee of a salary increase.

The person asked not to be quoted to avoid retaliation.

Amazon representative Rob Munoz confirmed the relocation policy and said it affects a small percentage of the organization’s workforce. The e-commerce giant said hub sites vary by team, and each team determines which areas are their hub. The company does provide relocation benefits to employees asked to move.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, so we decided that the best thing to do was to communicate now with teams and individuals affected to ensure they’re obtaining accurate information relevant to them,” Munoz said. “If an individual feels like they don’t have the information they need, we encourage them to talk with their HR business partner or manager.”

The relocation requirement escalates tensions between Amazon and some of its roughly 350,000 corporate employees over RTO plans after many employees moved away from their in-person office location during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May, Amazon began requiring that staffers work out of physical offices nearly three days a week, shifting from a policy that left it up to individual managers to decide how often team members should be in the office. CEO Andy Jassy has extolled the benefits of in-person work, saying it leads to a more robust company culture and employee collaboration.