Seattle: An Amazon employee who was hired as a remote worker has resigned instead of returning to the office, forfeiting restricted stock units (RSUs) worth $203,000 (Rs 1.6 crore approx).
The employee, who has chosen to remain anonymous, told Insider that they were informed in May that they would be required to return to the office three days a week beginning in June from Seattle. The employee said 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.
“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.”
“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 said they tried to negotiate with Amazon to continue working remotely, but the company was not budging. He also asked what a relocation package would be but never got an answer. As a result, the employee decided to resign.
“I tried negotiating. I showed them an estimate I’d received to pack up my family and move us across the country with our livestock — it would have cost $150,000 — and asked what the relocation package would look like. I didn’t get an answer,” he added.
In his post, he also revealed that he eventually left his job, which entailed giving up $203,000 in unvested stock. The ex-Amazon employee is currently working at a company alongside another ex-Amazon employee. He stated that his current position pays around the same as his prior one, but they obviously can’t compete with Amazon’s stock options.
Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told Insider via email that they couldn’t confirm the employee’s story. He went on to say that “a single anecdote could not characterise a company of Amazon’s size.”
The man said he tried to negotiate and argued before the company officials that the relocation would cost him and his family a whopping $150,000 ( ₹1.24 crore). He also asked for a relocation package, but it elicited no response.
The professional said he started putting in job applications after a conversation with his manager. He felt the order was intentional the way the company was pushing people out. He finally ended up with a new job and is getting paid the same base salary as Amazon.
An Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told the website that the company could not verify the account after Insider refused to reveal the identity of the source.
“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,” Glasser was quoted as saying.
