Amazon recently announced a big change: Starting in January, employees will have to work from the office five days a week. This policy, shared by Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman, comes with a clear message: Those who do not agree with the change are free to seek other job opportunities. At a company-wide meeting, Garman explained that Amazon views personal collaboration as essential to foster innovation and believes the move will help achieve the company’s ambitious goals. For employees wishing to return full-time, he suggested other companies may offer work environments that better suit their needs.

“If there are people who don’t work well in that environment and don’t want to, that’s OK — there are other companies around,” Garman told Reuters. He clarified that he didn’t mean this in a negative way, but rather that he believes Amazon’s best work comes from personal collaboration. “When we want to innovate on really interesting products, I haven’t seen the ability to do that when we’re not face to face,” he said.

Garman claims that most employees support the change, saying that nine out of ten employees he spoke to were in favor of the move. However, many Amazon employees have expressed disappointment. They argue that requiring five-day office schedules increases unnecessary commute time and stress, without clear evidence that it improves productivity. Employees point to studies that suggest remote work can be just as effective, if not more so.

Until now, Amazon required employees to work in the office three days a week, a policy that some employees still protested against. Recently, CEO Andy Jassy announced that a five-day shift was necessary for Amazon to “invent, collaborate, and stay connected.” In cases where employees failed to follow the three-day rule, some were informed that they were “voluntarily resigning” and were even locked out of the company system.

Unlike other tech giants like Google, Meta and Microsoft, which allow their employees to work from the office two or three days a week, Amazon is taking a more stringent approach with its five-day mandate. Garman said he’s excited about the change, though he knows not everyone feels the same way. He emphasized that Amazon’s goals require close teamwork, which, in his view, can be best achieved with everyone in the office.

As Amazon, the world’s second-largest private employer, implemented this policy, employees now have a choice: commit to full-time office work or consider finding a different job that offers more flexibility.