Amazon cuts phone allowance if staff use devices for personal calls

Amazon has introduced a new rule that requires employees at its cloud division, Amazon Web Services (AWS), to account for how much they use their company-issued mobile phones for personal reasons. The change, first reported by Business Insider, means the company’s $50 (₹4,150) monthly phone reimbursement will now shrink in proportion to non-work use.

Under the policy, an employee who reports that 40% of their usage is personal will only receive $30 (₹2,490) of the stipend. In effect, the allowance is no longer a flat perk but a variable payment tied to declared work-related use.

The phone policy is one of the most detailed examples yet of chief executive Andy Jassy’s cost discipline. Since succeeding Jeff Bezos in 2021, Jassy has pressed staff to treat company spending as if it were their own money. Business Insider reported that in internal meetings, he often asks: “What would I do if this was my money?”

The outlet noted that the phone monitoring sits alongside other measures: retail staff must now justify business trips by outlining expected returns, and employees are required to itemise meal expenses rather than claim blanket allowances.

Staff complaints of “micromanagement”

Several employees told Business Insider the new system feels intrusive and adds to job insecurity. One AWS engineer said the policy made them feel “like being watched at home as well as at work.” Others argued that company-issued phones had always been seen as a standard benefit, not something to be tracked and docked.

Amazon, however, rejects claims that the rule amounts to surveillance. A spokesperson told Business Insider the company was returning to its “performance-driven and fast-paced” roots and emphasised that frugality has always been one of Amazon’s leadership principles.

The move fits a broader pattern across big tech, where pandemic-era spending is giving way to tighter discipline. Companies such as Meta, Google and Microsoft have also curbed travel, pruned perks and raised performance expectations. Yet few have gone as far as Amazon in tying reimbursements directly to reported usage.

For a company with revenues of more than $575 billion (₹47.7 lakh crore) last year, the sums involved are minor. But the symbolism is striking: under Jassy, not even small perks are immune from scrutiny.

Whether the phone allowance changes will save Amazon significant money remains unclear. What they do signal, however, is a cultural shift: one where benefits once taken for granted are now subject to careful measurement, right down to the phone in an employee’s pocket.