Amazon Doubles Down on Office-Based Workforce, Bucking Trends

Amazon announced this week that it will increase its corporate workforce by several thousand employees, many of them working at an office in New York City. Despite recent efforts by large technology companies to transition to remote work during the Chinese virus pandemic, Amazon insists that there is a big benefit to working at the office.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is set to hire 3,500 employees at its corporate offices around the nation. The majority of the new hires will work in New York City at a building that previously housed the Lord & Taylor department store.

This move stands in stark contrast to the general trend of America’s Big Tech Masters of the Universe, which have moved to a remote-working environment during the coronavirus pandemic. Breitbart News reported earlier this year that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that many employees will be permitted to work from home indefinitely. Google announced in late July that 200,000 of its employees will work from home until the summer of next year.

Despite the trends, Amazon plans to bring new office-based employees into corporate offices located in Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Detroit, Dallas, and New York.

Amazon Vice President of Workforce Development Ardine Williams argued that it’s hard for employees to connect with one another when they are working from home.

“The ability to connect with people, the ability for teams to work together in an ad hoc fashion — you can do it virtually, but it isn’t as spontaneous,” Williams said. “We are looking forward to returning to the office.”

Williams claims that Amazon will continue to build out its infrastructure in urban cities that attract young professionals.

“We remain committed to being integrated into the communities we are in, and the urban environment offers us that opportunity,” Williams said.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.

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