Hell no, RTO: Amazon’s 5-day office policy hurts AI talent recruitment

Amazon’s strict five-day return-to-office policy is hampering its ability to recruit top tech talent, according to internal documents and recruiter accounts obtained by Business Insider. The policy, which requires employees to work in designated “hub” offices or face termination, is particularly limiting Amazon’s access to high-demand professionals with generative AI skills—a critical area where the company is racing to maintain competitiveness.

What you should know: Amazon’s aggressive RTO stance is creating measurable recruitment challenges that extend beyond typical workplace flexibility concerns.

• The company’s hub strategy is listed as one of the “hotly debated topics” among recruiters, specifically limiting their ability to hire talent with GenAI expertise, according to late 2024 internal documentation.
• Amazon recruiters report seeing increased candidate rejections starting last year, with prospects accepting lower pay from competitors in exchange for remote work flexibility.
• Oracle has successfully poached over 600 Amazon employees in the past two years, with Bloomberg reporting that Amazon’s strict RTO policy has made such recruitment raids easier.

Why this matters: The talent drain threatens Amazon’s position in the highly competitive generative AI market, where securing top-tier engineering talent often determines competitive advantage.

• A recent SignalFire venture capital report ranked Amazon on the lower end of engineer retention, trailing behind Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
• Amazon faces additional recruitment obstacles beyond RTO policies, including its unusual pay structure and what the company internally acknowledges as a lagging AI reputation.

The big picture: Amazon’s RTO requirements stand out even among companies tightening office policies, creating a competitive disadvantage in talent acquisition.

• The company demands five days of in-office work and ties compliance directly to promotions and performance reviews.
• Employees who refuse to relocate to designated hub offices are considered by Amazon to have voluntarily resigned.
• Many competing tech firms offer more flexible arrangements, making Amazon’s rigid stance a significant recruiting liability.

What they’re saying: Amazon maintains its position despite mounting evidence of talent challenges.

• “We continue to believe that teams produce the best results when they’re collaborating and inventing in person, and we’ve observed that to be true now that we’ve had most people back in the office each day for some time,” an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider.
• The spokesperson disputed the story’s premise, stating that Amazon “continues to attract and retain some of the best people in the world” and is “always looking for ways to optimize our recruiting strategies and looking at alternate talent rich locations.”