Amazon Encourages Customer Service Staff to Work From Home

Amazon has been encouraging customer service employees to work from home to help save money on real estate, Bloomberg wrote.

The shift is part of a larger plan to close some call centers around the country — including one in Kennewick, Washington that has operated since 2005, per data from unnamed sources speaking with Bloomberg.

“We’re offering additional members of our customer service team the increased flexibility that comes with working virtually,” Amazon spokesman Brad Glasser said in an email. “We’re working with employees to make sure their transition is seamless while continuing to prioritize best-in-class support for customers.”

It comes amid the push for remote work that started with the pandemic in 2020. But since then, especially with the availability of vaccines and the rolling-back of many restrictions, employees have been asked to return to offices. Many of them have resisted this. Post-pandemic, the amount of people who are likely to work from home for call centers has been drastically cut down.

Bloomberg wrote that Amazon’s offering of remote work will help it hire more employees amid high turnover for the industry. And the eCommerce giant won’t be locked into specific cities to hire from.

PYMNTS wrote that Amazon, with its flurry of announcements for its upcoming Prime Early Access Sale, made it clear it would be showing off an upgraded line of consumer electronics and adding to its digital ecosystem — alongside adding to its roster for the holidays.

Read more: Amazon’s Product Parade Aims to Juice Holiday Sales and Ecosystem Ambitions

The report said Amazon is banking on the continued profitability for connected everything, as it is offering “a next-gen Fire TV Cube TV with HDMI port enabling connections to more (presumably) Amazon devices and programming, thus creating millions more Amazon-centric homes.”

And Alexa will have a new remote control feature command, and more customizable buttons to let viewers personalize one-touch shortcuts for apps and channels.