Amazon’s Return-to-Office Bombshell
Commercial Observer
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E-commerce giant Amazon wants its corporate workers back in the office five days a week starting Jan. 2. It’s one of the biggest full return-to-office mandates since the pandemic. Also for today: A satisfyingly deep dive into the dynamics driving the oft-maligned, oft-misunderstood Chicago office market.
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— Tom Acitelli, Deputy Editor
Amazon Employees Must Work in Office 5 Days a Week, CEO Says
Amazon’s office workers must return to their desks five days a week starting in 2025, CEO Andy Jassy announced Monday. It’s a departure from the tech giant’s post-pandemic policy, which entrusted individual team managers to make the call on whether employees needed to return to the office or could work remotely. That changed last year, when Jassy announced staff should head into work at least three days per week. Now, starting on Jan. 2, Amazon’s corporate staffers will be expected to work in-office five days per week, unless there are “extenuating circumstances” or exceptions approved by team leaders, Jassy wrote in a letter to employees.
Chicago's Office Market ... It's Complicated
If you’ve been paying attention, you know that Chicago — Frank Sinata’s “toddling town,” America’s “Second City,” and the unspoken capital of the Midwest — has experienced a bit of a cultural renaissance. The Illinois city hosted the Democratic National Convention this summer, Grant Park’s annual Lollapalooza music festival drew more than 100,000 daily attendees, and the Emmy-winning culinary drama “The Bear” has generated national buzz around the city’s famous Italian beef sandwich. Moreover, the Chicago Bears were featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.” However, one element of the Windy City that has failed to engender much excitement is the city’s beleaguered office landscape. Vacancy for the downtown office sector — which encompasses neighborhood’s as diverse as River North, the Loop, the West Loop and Fulton Market — sits at a dismal 23.6 percent, according to a second-quarter analysis by CBRE.
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