Amazon and Disney employees petition against returning to the office – Deadline

With the pandemic easing, going back to the office isn’t exactly so sweet for some who have settled into working from home.

Last week, more than 2,3,000 Disney employees filed petitions against CEO Bob Iger’s order for employees to return to the office for a Monday-Thursday work week, beginning March 1. Employee vs. CEO Andy Jassy has asked employees to return three days a week, starting May 1. A slack channel was set up for Amazon employees, to air their concerns on Friday, and as of today it’s numbered north of 14,000.

When Deadline reached out to an Amazon rep about the situation, they referred us to it Jesse’s Friday note to staff.

Afterwards, Jassy said, “It’s not easy to get several thousand employees back into our offices around the world, so we’ll give the teams that need to do that work some time to develop a plan. We know it won’t be perfect in the beginning, but the office experience will steadily improve over the months ( And the years) ahead as our real estate and facilities teams work out wrinkles and eventually continue to evolve the way we want our offices to be set up to capture the new ways we want to work. I know people will have questions about how we implement this change. We’ll finish this. Details in the coming weeks, so please check Inside Amazon for these updates.”

We, the undersigned, are calling on Amazon to protect its role and position as a global leader in retail and technology by immediately rescinding the RTO policy and issuing a new policy that allows employees to work remotely or with more flexibility, if they choose to do so, according to the draft petition, which was reported by the website. Business Insider.

The petition included statistics showing how remote work is better for productivity, reduces expenses and attracts top talent. Of concern was how returning to the person would affect these parents, minorities, caregivers, and people with disabilities.

Gacy and Iger share similar views on returning to The Office. For the former, his note explains how working together makes it “easier to learn, model, practice and strengthen our culture” and “to collaborate and invent easier and more effective when we are in person.”

Egger asserted in his January 9th note, “In a creative work like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe, and create with peers that comes from being physically together, nor the opportunity for professional growth through learning from leaders and mentors.” It is my belief that work Together more personally will benefit the creativity of the company, its culture and the careers of our people.”

The Washington Post first reported that those petitioning against returning to the office at Disney came from divisions like ABC, 20th Century Studios, Marvel Studios, Hulu, Pixar and FX. Those who prefer working remotely in the Mouse House have argued that productivity will be negatively affected, as will efficiency and productivity. They also believed that returning to a personal life would lead to a lack of resources and resignations.

Amazon employees are annoyed that Jassy’s previous remarks about a hybrid workplace extol that one size does not fit all. According to reports, those Amazon employees in question are those who are hired to work remotely outside of major shopping/center locations in Seattle, New York, and Northern California.

“Of course, as before the pandemic, there will still be certain roles (eg, some of our salespeople, customer support, etc.) and exceptions to these expectations, but that will be a small minority,” Jassy said.

The deadline has reached Disney, which offered no comment on the return-to-work petition.