Amazon employee loses stocks worth Rs 1.6 cr after opting not to work from office

An Amazon employee who was hired as a remote worker has resigned instead of returning to the office, forfeiting restricted stock units (RSUs) worth $203,000 (Rs 1.6 crore approx).

The employee, who has chosen to remain anonymous, told Insider that they were informed in May that they would be required to return to the office three days a week beginning in June from Seattle. The employee said they were "blindsided" by the decision and felt that it was a betrayal of the company's original promise to allow them to work remotely indefinitely.

"I was devastated," the employee said. "I had just bought a house in a remote location and was finally able to live the life I had always dreamed of. I couldn't believe that Amazon was going to take that away from me."

"After being shuffled around through five company re-organizations within the last year, I ended up reporting to a manager who insisted I needed to work in person in Seattle by June 1, despite my most recent promotion designating mine as a remote role," the ex Amazon executive wrote.

The employee said they tried to negotiate with Amazon to continue working remotely, but the company was not budging.  He also asked what a relocation package would be but never got an answer. As a result, the employee decided to resign.

"I tried negotiating. I showed them an estimate I'd received to pack up my family and move us across the country with our livestock — it would have cost $150,000 — and asked what the relocation package would look like. I didn't get an answer," he added.

In his post, he also revealed that he eventually left his job, which entailed giving up $203,000 in unvested stock. The ex-Amazon employee is currently working at a company alongside another ex-Amazon employee. He stated that his current position pays around the same as his prior one, but they obviously can't compete with Amazon's stock options.

Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told Insider via email that they couldn't confirm the employee's story. He went on to say that "a single anecdote could not characterise a company of Amazon's size."

Glasser added, "We've repeatedly made our position clear: In February, we shared with employees that we'd be asking them to start coming into the office three or more days per week beginning in May because we believe it would yield the best long-term results for our customers, business, and culture. As part of this process, we've asked a relatively small percentage of our team to relocate to be in the same location as their teams. This isn't a one-size-fit-all approach, so team hubs and relocation timelines will vary based on a number of factors, and we're communicating with employees individually and providing relocation support. As is the case with any of our policies, we expect our team to follow them and will take appropriate action if someone chooses not to do that."

Amazon has been a vocal proponent of returning to the office, with CEO Andy Jassy saying in February that "being in the office together is important for our culture." However, the company has also said that it is willing to be flexible with employees who have extenuating circumstances.

His post read, "Because the pandemic lasted as long as it did, we were able to observe various models—some teams working exclusively from home, some in the office full-time together, and many flavors of hybrid—over a meaningful period of time. S-team listened to employees, watched how our teams performed, talked to leaders at other companies, and got together on several occasions to discuss if and how we should adjust our approach.

"The guiding principle in these conversations was to prioritize what would best enable us to make customers’ lives better and easier every day, and relentlessly invent to do so. Our respective views of what we thought was optimal evolved as the pandemic wore on and then eased."

Also Read: India vs South Africa, WC 2023: Virat Kohli equals Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI tons