Some speculated that the five-day-per-week mandate is a “layoff in disguise,” intended to push out employees who couldn’t or wouldn’t make the full return. “A number of people I’ve seen theorized that the reason we were doing this is,

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said at an all-hands meeting on Tuesday that the plan to require employees to be in-office five days per week is not meant to force attrition or satisfy city leaders, as many employees have suggested.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy denied speculation that the recently announced RTO mandate was made to further reduce headcount or appease city officials.