Amazon, an American multinational technology company, has announced plans to lay off over 18,000 workers from its total workforce.
The figure, which represents 1.2 percent of the company’s 1.5 million employees worldwide, is the highest in the company’s history.
Andy Jassy, Amazon’s CEO, announced the development in a public staff note on Thursday.
He blamed the job cuts on the “uncertain economy” and the company’s rapid hiring in recent years.
“As I shared back in November, as part of our annual planning process for 2023, leaders across the company have been working with their teams and looking at their workforce levels, investments they want to make in the future, and prioritising what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our businesses,” the Amazon CEO said.
“This year’s review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years. In November, we communicated the hard decision to eliminate a number of positions across our devices and books businesses, and also announced a voluntary reduction offer for some employees in our people, experience, and technology (PXT) organisation.
“I also shared that we weren’t done with our annual planning process and that I expected there would be more role reductions in early 2023.
“Today, I wanted to share the outcome of these further reviews, which is the difficult decision to eliminate additional roles. Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles.”
According to Jassy, while the layoffs will occur across departments, they will have the greatest impact on Amazon Stores and PXT organizations.
He also stated that all affected employees will receive packages that include external job placement assistance.
“S-team and I are deeply aware that these role eliminations are difficult for people, and we don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted. We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support,” he explained.
The announcement was not expected to be made this early, according to Jassy, but it was made after an Amazon teammate allegedly leaked the information.
According to Jassy, the company will begin informing affected employees on January 18.
