Amazon orders workers back to office / Silent Layoff / Communications Best Practice

Amazon orders workers to go back to the office every day / The US Job Market No Longer Sizzling /The Silent Layoff / Virtual Experience Revolution Workshops / Internal Communications Best Practice

Our Virtual Experience Revolution Workshops

Great brands all have a signature experience. A signature experience is a distinct experience your customers and employees can only get from you. This kind of experience requires consistency. We are offering two interactive livestream workshops: one on Oct 28, titled Mapping Your Signature Customer Experience (12 noon—3 pm ET), and one on Nov 4, titled Mapping Your Employee Experience (12 noon—3 pm ET). Register for up to 5 team members for both workshops for $249.

*Related – Why the ’24 Virtual Experience Revolution is the best investment you can make

The US Job Market No Longer Sizzling

The unemployment rate rose to 4.2% in August, up from 3.4% early last year. Employees are no longer quitting their jobs at a frenzied pace, and college graduates are having a hard time breaking into the market. There is still a strong need for skilled laborers.

The Silent Layoff

This is leading many to feel that the market is swaying from an employee market back to an employer market. This is why you see many companies use strategies like mandatory return to the office policies. These policies not only cause controversy amongst the staff, but one of its intentions is to have a percentage of employees resign as a result. This way, the mothership doesn’t have to lay off as many. See Amazon below.

Amazon orders workers to return to the office 5 days a week

Amazon wants to set its corporate clock back to before the pandemic. After four years of employees with the online retailer working from home, CEO Andrew Jassy recently said he wants all workers back in the office five days a week.

The following are some excerpts from Jassy’s memo to employees posted on Amazon’s website: “…we’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID.” “…you need to be joined at the hip with your teammates when inventing and solving hard problems.” “When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant.”

In February 2023, Amazon asked all employees to come back to the office for three mandatory days, resulting in some protests from workers. Economic historian Dror Poleg speculated that Amazon’s new policy is designed to drive some employees to leave the company. “Companies are using return-to-office mandates when they want to cut headcount,” he said. “So the easiest way to fire employees is to force them back to the office.”

Best Practice on Internal Communications by Dave Murray

As I travel around North America and beyond, helping organizations focus on the internal and external experience they deliver to their customers, I speak with employees on the customer service front lines daily. I always ask them, “What is the number one issue you face in your organization?”  The answer I almost always hear is “poor communication within our organization.”

Communication is a huge task to tackle for any organization, but here are some great ways to start:

1. How good of a job do your company leaders (directors, managers, etc.) communicate with their teams? Do they have the basic skills to present ideas and concepts well?  Just this week, The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) spent four days training team members on being better presenters within their organization.  Team members who focus on leading teams, onboarding new employees, and providing ongoing training all took part in the presentation skills workshop.  They all left the session with key tips on being more effective and persuasive when sharing cascading messages and training.  Are your leaders equipped with the tools to ensure they are delivering effective messages?
2. Have you created any communication standards for your organization? So many companies do not have any communication guidelines in place.  For too long, organizations have assumed that team members know how to communicate well, but that is not always the case.  Alpin Haus, a retailer based in Upstate New York, took a very important next step.  They held a workshop focused on internal culture, and part of the session was specifically focused on how team members communicate with one another and when. One of the end results of the session was the creation of a Communication Guideline for all team members to follow.  When employees follow the guide, they are reminded when and why to send emails internally and how and when to deliver a warm transfer to others while focusing on delivering a great customer experience.  What communication guidelines does your organization need?

October:

8 – Cleveland, OH

9 – Warrensville, OH

10 – Warrensville, OH

14 – Ontario, CA

16 – Akron, OH

22 – St. Louis, MO

23 – Houston, TX

24 – Nashville, TN

November:

11 – Columbus, OH

13 – Los Angeles, CA

14 – Los Angeles, CA

19 – Dallas, TX

20 – Dallas, TX

21 – Canton, OH

December:

12 – Middlebury, IN