Tech bosses issue threats to workers who shun office life

Amazon workers in the US are being tracked and penalised for not spending sufficient time in the company's offices, an email sent to employees revealed, as tech companies push back against work-from-home practices that flourished during the pandemic.

- Kari Paul

Some staff members were alerted last week they were "not currently meeting our expectation of joining your colleagues in the office at least three days a week", according to emails shared with the Financial Times. The emails were also discussed on the anonymous work-related message board Blind.

The email was intended for workers who went into their office fewer than three days a week for five or more of the past eight weeks, according to a follow-up message to employees that Amazon shared with the Guardian. Some employees reported receiving the email by mistake and were encouraged to clarify their attendance.

Apple began threatening punitive action in March against employees who did not return to the office parttime and, shortly after taking over Twitter, Elon Musk began to require employees to return full-time.