Amazon's 5-day office mandate is causing 73% of employees surveyed to consider quitting

At least that's according to the anonymous job review site Blind, which surveyed 2,585 verified Amazon professionals the day after Jassy sent out the RTO memo.

Although employees of the $1.9 trillion tech giant have until January 2025 before they are expected to show their faces in one of Amazon's many offices, data shows many are hoping to have one before the New Year to find a new job.

The majority of Amazon corporate employees said they are unhappy with the mandate and are looking for new jobs – or know someone on their team who is.

Additionally, more than a third said they knew someone at the company who resigned as a result of the announcement.

Assets In its own research, the company also found that employees are applying for new jobs at a “rapid rate” and are already interviewing for more flexible roles elsewhere.

Amazon hasn't responded Fortune's Please comment.

Technicians fear their employer will follow suit

According to the Blind survey, over 90% of Amazon employees are “dissatisfied” with the company's new in-office policy, and many posted on Blind that they fear it could inspire other tech giants to follow suit .

“Remote is a thing of the past…” wrote a verified Block pro on Blind. “Amazon will not do this unless they know that their competitors will not do something similar in the future.”

“Other companies will do this and enjoy it while it lasts,” echoed one Google employee.

“Pack it up guys, it’s over,” an AT&T employee added. “All the technology will follow and will now be available 5 days a week.”

In fact, since Amazon announced that it would bring its employees back to the old ways of working, computer manufacturer Dell has required its sales staff to come to the office five days a week – instead of the previous three.

However, research consistently shows that companies with strict in-office policies, like Amazon and now Dell, are actually exceptions to the norm.

In reality, most companies are becoming more flexible – not less – and have even recently moved away from their work-from-home stance.

Research suggests Amazon could roll back its RTO mandate

Flex Index analyzed the office needs of more than 9,000 companies (which collectively employ more than 100 million people) and found that about half of U.S. companies asked workers to return to the office last January.

Only a third have complied with their strict five-day mandates in office.

37% of employers now offer hybrid working instead – at the beginning of 2023 it was still 20%.

Separate research has found that CEOs in the tech industry in particular have scaled back their RTO orders in the last year.

Just 3% of tech companies are now asking their employees to go to the office full-time – a significant decline from 8% last year – after facing greater resistance than they expected.

Amazon could suffer the same fate: According to Blind's report, Amazon's hiring managers are already struggling with recruiting issues in addition to a possible mass exodus of current employees due to the new mandate.

A verified Microsoft expert who claims to be applying for a job at the company revealed that “thousands of candidates are dropping out of Amazon’s recruiting process.”

Now, the story goes, Amazon recruiters are “hunting” her phone trying to schedule an interview.

“I just asked the recruiter why he was rushing to hire and he said the hiring managers were upset because so many candidates had fallen out of the pipeline in the last 24 hours.”

“If you doubt that people would turn down an Amazon offer in a recession, remember that most candidates are still employed and likely working (remotely)…”