SEATTLE — Amazon employees will return to the office full time beginning on Thursday. 

The e-commerce giant previously allowed employees to work from home three days a week  but announced the full-time return to office buildings last September. 

Outside of “extenuating circumstances” employees are expected to be in-building, the company announced. CEO Andy Jassy said “it’s probably not going to work out” for employees who resist the new mandate. 

Amazon has about 55,000 employees at its Seattle campus and an additional 10,000 in Bellevue and the Eastside. 

Ryan Avery, deputy director for the Washington State Transportation Center at the University of Washington said he thinks the change will be “challenging for traffic,” particularly around rush hour on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. In addition, he expects those rush hour periods to last longer. 

“We used to be bad for three hours, now it’s bad for five,” Avery said. “Sometimes it’s bad all day.”

Jassy said he expects the return to office to be good for the business. The idea came about as he was thinking of ways to “invent, collaborate and be connected enough to each other” to deliver the best results for customers and the business, according to a company memo. 

Many Amazon employees were completely remote following the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the company allowed team leaders to decide whether they would remain remote, or go back to the office. 

In 2023, the company reversed course and decided that employees should return to offices three days a week. This decision was unpopular among many corporate workers, leading to walkouts and protests of the new policy. 

However, in his note announcing the return to office, Jassy said the company has observed that it is easier for employees to “learn, model, practice and strengthen” Amazon’s culture and brainstorm when they’re together in person.

KING 5’s Brady Wakayama contributed to this report.