You would be surprised that Amazon would make a decision based on anything but facts? Measuring productivity, especially for office workers is extremely difficult except in gross terms. You mention these "issues" that they've been unable to address, but as you say, there's no issues coming down from the Emperor.

And companies that consider good communications with their employees to be "an unproductive activity" are shit companies. There's a reason that Amazon has such a bad reputation amongst all the FAANG. Whether you work in one of the fulfillment warehouses, or are a coder hoping to avoid the mandatory PIPs, it's the worst.