Oct 30 (Reuters) - More than 500 Amazon.com ( AMZN )

employees sent a letter on Wednesday to the CEO of its AWS unit

urging reversal of a full return-to-office policy and rejecting

his assertion that the rule had broad support and opponents

should leave Amazon Web Services.

"We were appalled to hear the non-data-driven explanation

you gave for Amazon ( AMZN ) imposing a five-day in-office mandate," the

letter begins.

AWS CEO Matt Garman, at an Oct. 17 all-hands meeting of the

cloud computing unit, said nine out of 10 workers he had spoken

with supported the return-to-office policy, set to take effect

early next year.

Those comments are "inconsistent with the experiences of

many employees" and are "misrepresenting the realities of

working at Amazon ( AMZN )," according to the letter, which Reuters

reviewed after it was sent to Garman.

Amazon ( AMZN ) had no immediate comment, said a spokesperson.

Garman had said he was "quite excited about this change" and

that, under the current three-day-per-week policy, collaboration

was too difficult because people may be in offices on different

days.

The company-wide policy, announced in September by Amazon ( AMZN )

CEO Andy Jassy, has been controversial inside Amazon ( AMZN ), with many

calling it wasteful because it adds commuting time and expense

when remote work has been effective. Some say they plan to leave

the company. Amazon ( AMZN ) has enforced the policy by asking many

workers to go to regional offices, move to Seattle or

"voluntarily resign."

Garman's comments do not reflect any independent data, the

letter says, and "break the trust of your employees who have not

only personal experience that shows the benefits of remote work,

but have seen the extensive data which supports that

experience."

Requiring five days in the office every week also

particularly impacts protected classes of workers such as those

with neurodiversity or childcare responsibilities and "does not

uphold Amazon's ( AMZN ) espoused "Strive to be Earth's Best Employer"

leadership principle," according to the letter.