Amazon headquarters is located almost empty on March 10, 2020 in downtown Seattle, Washington. In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Amazon has recommended all employees in its Seattle office to work from home, leaving much of the city center almost empty of people.
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CNBC confirmed on Tuesday that Amazon will allow employees who can work from home to do so through June 2021.
“We continue to prioritize the health of our employees and follow local government guidelines,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “Employees who have work that can be done effectively from home can continue to do this work from home until June 30, 2021.”
Bloomberg first published news of extended home work policy.
Amazon is following in the footsteps of several tech companies that have extended their home business policies until at least early 2021, including Apple, Facebook and Uber. Twitter allowed employees to work from home “forever” if they so desired.
The move pushes the schedule for the return to work of Amazon employees who have been working from home since March. The company said earlier that employees can work from home until January.
Fulfillment operations at Amazon have served as a core business during the pandemic, requiring warehouse workers and delivery drivers to report back to work. The issue has been controversial for Amazon, with lawmakers and labor groups criticizing the company’s treatment of frontline employees amid the coronavirus crisis.
As of Tuesday, the United States had reported more than 8.2 million cases of coronavirus and at least 220,649 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
