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Amazon’s five-day in-office policy took effect Jan. 2, 2025, and Downtown Seattle Association president Jon Scholes called the shift “significant and influential.” He hopes it will encourage other employers to bring workers downtown and help nearby small businesses. Those are expectations, not measured results: the available downtown activity study examined Amazon’s earlier three-day policy, not the five-day schedule.
What Amazon changed—and when
Amazon’s five-day in-office requirement began Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, replacing the three-days-a-week policy the company had set in 2023, according to GeekWire’s report. The report describes the policy change, but does not establish a comprehensive comparison of other employers’ requirements or show that they followed Amazon.
When Amazon announced its earlier three-day policy in 2023, CEO Andy Jassy wrote, “Collaborating and inventing is easier and more effective when we’re in person.” That statement explains the company’s rationale at the time; it should not be treated as a verified explanation for the later five-day decision.
Why the downtown association sees wider significance
Scholes said Amazon’s decision was “significant and influential,” both for companies considering their own work policies and for small businesses that depend on workers passing through downtown. He also said, “More people in a public space is a good thing,” and predicted that “Amazon’s return to [five days] is going to increase real and perceived safety downtown.” These are his views about possible effects, not findings from a safety or economic-impact measurement.
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The argument is that a large employer’s schedule could affect how many workers are present during the week, with possible consequences for street activity and nearby businesses. Whether other employers change their policies, and whether additional Amazon office days produce a lasting boost to downtown commerce, are separate questions. The sources do not establish either outcome.
Downtown Seattle’s starting point
GeekWire reported that downtown averaged nearly 91,000 workers per weekday in November, or 56% of the November 2019 average, citing Downtown Seattle Association figures. The article excerpt does not explicitly identify the year for the first November figure, so it is best read in the context of the 2025 report rather than assigned a more precise date.
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The same GeekWire report cited Cushman & Wakefield figures showing downtown office vacancy above 30% in Q3 2024, up 24.3% from a year earlier. It also said Amazon gave up nearly 595,000 square feet of Seattle office space in 2024 as leases expired and employees shifted to Bellevue. These figures describe the difficult office-market context; they do not show that the new schedule has reversed it.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the available evidence can—and cannot—show
Amazon’s earlier three-day policy
Amazon’s June 2023 report studied activity around two Amazon locations: the Dawson building in South Lake Union and the Spheres in Denny Regrade. It used Mapbox movement data and anonymized Mastercard transactions covering March 2020 through May 2023, focusing on areas within 500 meters of each site. Its difference-in-differences analysis estimated activity increases of 30% around Dawson and 17% around the Spheres associated with the return-to-office change. Amazon characterized the evidence as preliminary.
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Those estimates concern the earlier three-day policy and a limited area around two buildings. They are not an evaluation of the five-day policy that began in January 2025, and they do not establish its effect on downtown-wide foot traffic, small-business revenue, office vacancy, or safety.
Regional attendance was not the same as a five-day norm
The City of Seattle said its executive-branch employees would be expected to work in person three days a week starting Nov. 4, 2024. The city announcement cited a Seattle Metro Chamber survey in which 99% of remote-capable regional employers reported employees in the office at least three days weekly. That statistic measures a three-day threshold; it does not mean 99% of employers required five days in person.
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As a result, the available comparisons show a mix of three-day requirements and Amazon’s five-day schedule, not evidence that employers broadly adopted Amazon’s approach. Scholes’s hope that Amazon will influence them remains a forecast.
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What to watch next
- Employer policy changes: whether other companies announce new in-office requirements, and how many days they require.
- Worker presence: whether weekday attendance in downtown Seattle rises beyond the figures reported before the five-day policy began.
- Business and street-level outcomes: whether independently reported measures show changes in customer activity or safety, rather than relying on predictions alone.
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