SEATTLE (Aug 14): Amazon.com Inc. is offering Seattle-based employees a choice of smaller offices outside the city, suggesting the Covid-19 outbreak and a new local employers tax have pushed the e-commerce giant to consider alternatives to its hometown.

In a message to employees Thursday, Amazon asked which communities near Seattle -- including Tacoma and Redmond, Washington -- they’d prefer. The title on the message, which was shared on Reddit and later deleted, was “office workplace options.” Amazon declined to comment on the matter.