Amazon’s strict new RTO rule creates an awkward situation for One Medical

One Medical may be the first big exception to Amazon’s strict new RTO mandate.

One Medical told its employees earlier in September that they must come into the office 3 times a week, starting in October 2025, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company is giving over a year until the new in-office mandate kicks in to help employees adjust and relocate if needed, the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing sensitive topics.

Most One Medical employees will have to be in one of 4 “hub” cities across Seattle, Austin, San Francisco, or Boston, the people explained. Currently, almost 40% of One Medical employees are working outside of these locations, one of the people noted.

While this is a big change for One Medical employees, it’s a softer approach than Amazon’s new RTO policy. On Monday, CEO Andy Jassy announced that Amazon’s corporate employees must work in an office 5 days a week, starting in January. Many Amazon employees criticized the order in internal messages.

One Medical employees have been allowed to work remotely full-time, even after Amazon acquired the company for $3.9 billion early last year. One Medical CEO Trent Green even highlighted remote work as a major perk this year, as the company went through layoffs and a major reorganization.

The new 3-day-a-week policy for One Medical shows how difficult it will be for Amazon to impose its new stricter RTO mandate across a company with hundreds of thousands of employees in different businesses spread out around the world.

Despite the softer approach at One Medical, even the new 3-day rule is causing uncertainty and frustration at the healthcare unit, some of the people said. Amazon has been more tightly integrating with One Medical lately, rolling out Amazon’s own HR and benefits policy as well as compensation structure to the division. Amazon is also scrutinizing One Medical’s financial performance, ordering drastic cost cuts to control losses.

People on Amazon’s side have been equally frustrated with One Medical, one of the people said. One Medical has struggled to adapt to Amazon’s faster pace of work and rigid culture centered around its leadership principles. One Medical’s staff, meanwhile, feels Amazon is disrupting a business that had performed well and grew faster before the acquisition, some of the people said.

The messaging from One Medical’s leadership earlier this month was that working in the same physical space can be more productive, echoing Jassy’s thinking, these people said.