Amazon CEO Andy Jassy denied speculation that the company’s five-day mandate was intended to further reduce workforces or appease city officials.

“A number of people I’ve seen theorize that the reason we did this is a backdoor layoff, or we made some kind of deal with the city or cities, and that’s why we let people come back and be together more often,” Jassy said Tuesday during an all-hands meeting, according to comments obtained by CNBC “I can tell you that neither is true.”

Amazon announced the new mandate in September. The company’s previous return-to-work policy required company employees to be in the office at least three days a week. Employees have until January 2 to adhere to the new policy.

The mandate has sparked backlash from some Amazon employees who say they are just as productive working from home or in a hybrid work environment as they are in the office. Others have said the mandate is in line with Jassy’s ongoing cost-cutting efforts, suggesting it is a means of forced depletion. Amazon has laid off more than 27,000 employees since the beginning of 2022.

An Amazon spokesperson pointed to Jassy’s memo announcing the five-day tenure.

The company offers a variety of benefits and services for employees’ commutes, which vary by location but include free shuttles, subsidized parking, reimbursable public transportation, subsidized rides and bicycle-related costs, an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC.

Jassy’s comments on Tuesday were previously reported by Reuters.

“This was not an expense for us,” Jassy said at the meeting, which coincided with Election Day. “This is very much about our culture and strengthening our culture.”

When announcing the mandate, Jassy said a return to the office full-time would allow Amazon to be “better prepared to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other and our culture to deliver the absolute best for customers and the company.”

Amazon’s cloud boss Matt Garman also defended the decision last month, saying employees who disagree with the company’s new policy can leave, CNBC previously reported. Garman also said he’s talked to staffers about the mandate and that “nine out of 10 people are actually pretty excited about this change.”

Garman’s comments further confused Amazon employees.

About 500 employees who work for Amazon’s cloud computing company Amazon Web Services wrote a letter to Garman last week criticizing his comments and questioning the merits of a five-day term in office, according to a copy of the letter seen by CNBC.

“We urge you to reconsider your comments and position on the proposed five-day mandate,” the letter said. “Remote and flexible working is an opportunity for Amazon to lead, not a threat. We want to work for a company and for leaders who recognize and seize this moment to challenge us to reinvent the way we work .”

The letter included anecdotes from AWS staffers detailing how the five-day mandate in the office will impact their “life and work.” One employee said they were denied a disability accommodation and told to return to the office, and another employee said they were recently told to use paid leave to care for a sick family member instead of were allowed to work from home. Another employee said the RTO mandate would require them to be in an office “more than 200 miles from my home.”

At least 37,000 employees have joined an internal Slack channel created last year to advocate for remote work and share their grievances about the return-to-work mandate, CNBC previously reported. Staffers have previously pushed back on the three-day mandate, with some staging a walkout at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle to express their dissatisfaction.

Jassy acknowledged Tuesday that the five-day mandate will be an adjustment for employees.

“I understand that for a lot of people and we will work on that adjustment together,” he said.

WATCH: The CEO of AWS says employees unhappy with the five-day office mandate can leave