As Amazon delays its January 2 return-to-office (RTO) mandate for thousands of employees due to a lack of office space, two other companies are following the tech giant's lead and implementing strict return-to-office mandates.
AT&T and Sweetgreen are urging non-frontline workers to come to the office more often in the new year, Bloomberg said.
Both companies currently require employees to be in the office three days per week.
Related: Dell's sudden 5-day return-to-office order leaves parents struggling to find child care
According to the report, AT&T wants more U.S. employees to be in the office all five work days, while Sweetgreen is pushing for four days a week.
Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman told Bloomberg that Amazon's stricter RTO policy has paved the way for Sweetgreen to also ask its employees to come in more frequently.
“That was the big turning point where everyone said, 'Oh, they're doing it, now we can do it,'” Neman said.
Related: Hybrid workers have been put to the test compared to office-only employees – here's who comes out on top
What is Amazon's new RTO policy?
Amazon's new RTO policy requires all employees to return to the office for the full five-day week starting in January. And although other companies have followed Amazon's lead, employee feedback has not been positive.
After the news was announced in September, 73% of Amazon's corporate employees said they were looking for a new job. Then in October, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman told employees who didn't want to return to the office for the entire five days that “other companies were nearby.” That prompted over 500 Amazon employees to sign a letter protesting his comments.
Despite the resistance, Amazon has stuck to its policy.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last month that the move to fully return to the office was not a cost factor, but rather motivated by the need to strengthen Amazon's culture.
Related: Google says it will follow Amazon's lead with a return-to-office mandate — yet
Amazon boss Andy Jassy. Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage
Meanwhile, Amazon's RTO policy may be stalled – earlier this week there were reports that there simply isn't enough office space to accommodate all of the retail giant's 350,000 corporate employees.
Amazon reportedly told thousands of company employees living in at least seven cities, including Austin, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona, that they don't have to return to the office until April.
Still, an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg that “the vast majority” of Amazon's corporate workforce will be back at their desks starting Jan. 2.
Related: Remote Walmart employees question return-to-office policy, some opt to quit instead
Does a strict return-to-office policy cause employees to quit?
A new study found a noticeable change in employees after companies implemented stricter RTO policies.
Earlier this month, researchers at the University of Pittsburg published a study on the Social Science Research Network to determine how RTO regulations affect employee turnover. Researchers examined LinkedIn employment histories of over three million employees in technology and finance and found that the number of employees who quit increased by 14% after companies implemented RTO policies.
“In particular, we find that female employees are more likely to quit after RTO assignments,” the 40-page study says.
RTO also impacted how quickly companies could hire a replacement. The study found that after implementing a strict RTO policy, it took a company an average of 23% longer to fill a vacancy.