Amazon announced on Wednesday, January 28, that it plans to cut an additional 16,000 jobs across the organization as it seeks to reduce bureaucracy and free up funds to spend heavily on artificial intelligence.
The job cuts were widely expected across Amazon’s corporate workforce since late October, when the company laid off 14,000 corporate employees. At the time, media outlets forecasted that the company would make another round of layoffs in January, post the holiday shopping season.
The tech giant has been reducing its workforce, which had swelled during the pandemic, while also announcing plans to invest heavily in artificial intelligence. Amazon did not report what business units would be impacted by this round of cuts or where they would occur.
In a blog post shared with Amazon employees, Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, wrote that the job reductions would “strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership and removing bureaucracy.”
Her full post is reprinted below.
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I want to let you know that we’re making additional organizational changes across Amazon that will impact some of our teammates. I recognize this is difficult news, which is why I’m sharing what’s happening and why.
As I shared in October, we’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy. While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now.
The reductions we are making today will impact approximately 16,000 roles across Amazon, and we’re again working hard to support everyone whose role is impacted. That starts with offering most US-based employees 90 days to look for a new role internally (timing will vary internationally based on local and country-level requirements). Then, for teammates who are unable to find a new role at Amazon or who choose not to look for one, we’ll provide transition support, including severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits (as applicable), and more.
While we’re making these changes, we’ll also continue hiring and investing in strategic areas and functions that are critical to our future. We’re still in the early stages of building every one of our businesses and there’s significant opportunity ahead.
Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan. But just as we always have, every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate. That’s never been more important than it is today in a world that’s changing faster than ever.
I’m grateful for how our teams continue to deliver – for customers, for each other, and for the incredible things we’re building together.
Thank you,
Beth
Image courtesy Amazon
