We guess it is because middle managers did have people to give endless PowerPoint presentations, brains would not be stormed, no one was discussing how Attila the Hun would have delivered packages and the all-important “who moved my cheese principle” applied to Amazon.

Saving money by getting rid of middle managers would be a bad idea because there would be no one for the senior managers to boss about.

The decision marks a significant shift from Amazon's earlier return-to-work stance, which required corporate workers to be in the office at least three days a week. The company is giving employees until 2 January to start adhering to the new policy.

Jassy said corporate employees will be expected to be in the office five days a week "outside of extenuating circumstances" or unless they've been granted an exception by their organisation's S-team leader.

"Before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward -- we expect that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances," Jassy said.

Jassy said Amazon also plans to simplify its corporate structure by having fewer managers to "remove layers and flatten organisations. "

He said each S-team organisation will be expected to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15 per cent by the end of the first quarter of 2025. Individual contributors are employees who typically don't manage other staffers.

It's unclear if the change will result in eliminating some manager positions.