Amazon’s Jassy said that the company would pay severance and other benefits to the affected workforce.
E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. will let go of more than 18,000 employees as a part of the company’s annual planning process, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said in a public staff note yesterday. The job cut number is much bigger than the previously planned layoffs of around 10,000 employees.
According to a Reuters report, the company will communicate the layoff decisions on January 18. The reduction in workforce will largely impact the tech giant’s e-commerce and human-resources departments.
Jassy said that the company would pay severance and provide transitional health benefits and job placement to the affected workforce, according to a Bloomberg report. He added that these changes would aid the company in pursuing long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure, the report added.
Previously, reports suggested that Amazon reaped the fruits of an upsurge in online shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic. It went on to utilize this windfall in expanding several teams and investing heavily in the business. But now, the tech giant is bracing for slower growth owing to an expected recession this year along with a slump in consumer and business spending due to soaring inflation.
Furthermore, as a part of its cost-cutting measures, the company last year discontinued some of its businesses in India including its wholesale distribution business, edtech platform Amazon Academy and food delivery venture Amazon Food.
