Amazon employee loses Rs 1.6 cr worth stock for forfeiting Work from Office mandate

Work From Office: An Amazon employee tendered resignation after the e-commerce giant mandated empooyees to work from office. The employee who was hired as a remote worker has quit instead of returning to office, forfeiting restricted stock units worth $203,000 (Rs 1.6 crore approx).

Return to office mandate:

The employee had told Insider that the company in May had informed them that they would be required to work from Seattle office for three days a week beginning June. As per the employee, 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.

Also Read: IT companies push employees to return to office five days in a week

The employee who had just both a house in a remote location was devastated with the company mandate.

"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."

The employee also mentioned that they tried negotiating with Amazon. However, the talks bore nothing as the company was not ready to budge.

"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's queries of relocation package also went unanswered. All of this pushed him to resign which entailed giving up $203,000 in unvested stock.

An unvested stock is stock set aside for an employee but that he/she has not yet fully owned due to the fact that certain conditions (e.g. performance targets or length of employment) haven't been met yet in a vesting period.

While he has found a new role in another company with the same pay, the share values can't compete with Amazon's stock options.

Amazon's Take

Meanwhile, Amazon's spokesperson Brad Glasser told Insider via email that they couldn't confirm the employee's story and further added that "a single anecdote could not characterise a company of Amazon's size."

"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", Glasser added.

Amazon which has been vocal about returning to office had also said that it is willing to be flexible with employees who have extenuating circumstances.