Is this what 2019 felt like?
It’s hard to remember after three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work, an empty downtown, and start-and-stop policies for getting back to the office. But Amazon’s headquarters campus in Seattle has a familiar feel this week thanks mainly to the return of its people.
Seattle’s perfect spring weather might like a word with Andy Jassy about who should really get credit for making the South Lake Union neighborhood look alive again. As the Amazon CEO’s return-to-office mandate officially kicked in, requiring corporate and tech workers to work at least three days per week in person, the warm sunshine seemed to add an air of enthusiasm.
The sidewalks, bike lanes and plazas around Amazon’s office towers and The Spheres were buzzing with employees on Wednesday. Many carried food from nearby restaurants and food trucks to dine outdoors or head back to their offices. Dogs were everywhere again, including in the small dog park beside The Spheres. Like their humans, they all seemed to be getting reacquainted with one another.
People worked on laptops or chatted on phones seated in colorful Adirondack chairs near the Banana Stand as an endless stream of people grabbed free fruit. A sign and free stickers at the stand proclaimed #MissedYouBunches.
Two women hugged as they greeted. “How are you?” one asked. “It’s been a while,” the other said. “This is my first day back.”
Traffic on 6th Avenue was noticeably heavier than in recent years and months as commuters waited in a long line to get into parking garages in the Doppler and Day 1 buildings. Large shuttle buses also dropped off employees.
A parking attendant working one garage entry said it was even busier on Tuesday, but that drivers probably figured out where they were supposed to be going by Wednesday. The attendant said he works a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening to “get ’em in and get ’em out.”
Getting everyone in has been the goal and the challenge for Amazon, as remote and hybrid work policies took hold during the pandemic. Like many tech companies, Amazon embraced the ability to keep its workforce operational without requiring people to be in the office. And the company changed course a couple times on policies for getting people back.
That all changed in February when Jassy sent a memo to employees saying it was time to return and strengthen the culture of the tech giant.
“Collaborating and inventing is easier and more effective when we’re in person,” Jassy said. “The energy and riffing on one another’s ideas happen more freely.”
The three-days-a-week mandate did not land well with many employees who got comfortable living and working where they wanted and avoiding lengthy commutes. News site Insider reported in February about an internal Slack channel and petition by employees advocating for remote work, with many expressing frustration, confusion, and anger.
And GeekWire heard from others who were equally unhappy. They requested anonymity to speak freely without jeopardizing their jobs.
“My team is 90% remote, so going into the office for a specific two to three days a week is not productive,” one employee said. “All meetings are still being held via conference call.”
Another fan of working from home said that cutting out the commute into the office was “one way to create some semblance of work-life balance. Adding hours of unproductive commuting eliminates that.”
The back-to-office announcement was welcome news to small businesses when GeekWire visited several of them in the area a couple months ago, including Shannon Rau, owner of Martha’s Garden dog daycare and bar in South Lake Union.
Rau was surrounded by barking pups on Wednesday when GeekWire visited again to check on business.
“We’re getting a lot of dogs coming in,” she said. “A lot of new faces.”
Her hope is still that returning Amazonians will fill her happy hour bar the way the dogs have filled the daycare.
At Likelihood, a sneaker and apparel store on 7th Avenue, workers have noticed a change around Amazon HQ. The parking garages are full, so it’s harder to park. And foot traffic has definitely increased as more people are browsing during lunch hour.
Seated outside a Starbucks at the base of the Doppler tower, a private security guard said he’d been on the job since October, hired to deal with disturbances and public safety concerns in the coffee shop and around the building. The difference around the HQ was already noticeable, he said.
“It’s like a power vacuum. When these [workers] leave it creates opportunity,” said the guard named Josh, who preferred to give just his first name. “There’s safety in numbers. So it’s nice to see people getting back to routine.”
Josh said he was seeing “a lot more smiling faces” compared to last fall. “I think people enjoy seeing their co-workers,” he added.
An Amazon employee who commuted to work on an electric bike from nearby VanMoof was smiling as she dismounted on Wednesday. Asked if she was glad to be back at the office, she chuckled and said “no,” before adding a qualifier.
“I mean, it’s OK,” the cyclist said. “There’s good energy and stuff.”
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