"The Office Era Returns" Amazon Sets Up Offices in 6 US Cities

$1.4 Billion Investment in New York, Dallas, Detroit, and More... Defying Industry Trend of Eliminating Offices
Hiring 3,500 Additional Employees Including User Experience Designers, Data Scientists, and Software Engineers

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon is expanding its office space. Along with securing additional office space, the company plans to hire 3,500 new employees.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 18th (local time), Amazon will invest $1.4 billion (approximately 1.65 trillion KRW) in six hub cities including New York (Manhattan), Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Phoenix, and San Diego, to hire a total of about 3,500 employees.

WSJ reported that Amazon’s move is unusual as companies encourage remote work and close offices amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Facebook has announced plans to shift primarily to remote work over the next decade. Twitter also announced that employees can work from home indefinitely if they wish.

Adin Williams, Amazon’s Vice President of Workforce Development, stated, "The ability to connect with people and the ability for teams to collaborate in special ways can be done remotely, but not naturally," adding, "I look forward to the day we return to the office."

Amazon revealed that out of the 3,500 employees to be hired over the next two years, about 2,000 will be recruited in New York. To this end, Amazon reportedly purchased the Lord & Taylor department store building in Manhattan from WeWork for over $1 billion (approximately 1.2 trillion KRW). The New York office is scheduled to open in 2023.

The total increase in Amazon’s office space across the six cities will be 900,000 square feet (approximately 83,613㎡), of which 630,000 square feet (approximately 58,529㎡) is in the New York building.

The hiring will cover various fields including product management, cloud infrastructure design, user experience design, data scientists, and software engineers.

It is known that the selection of the six hub cities for hiring 3,500 employees this time was an internal decision unrelated to incentives from local or state governments.