Amazon to cut 30,000 jobs, biggest layoff since 2022 to slash costs: Full story in 5 points

Amazon to cut 30,000 jobs, biggest layoff since 2022 to slash costs: Full story in 5 points

Amazon is gearing up for another major round of job cuts. This time, the biggest since 2022. The tech giant plans to lay off around 30,000 corporate employees starting today, in what is being seen as a move to tighten costs and rebalance after the hiring spree during the pandemic years. The layoffs will impact several departments across the company and come at a time when Amazon is pushing to simplify its structure and make better use of automation and AI, according to Reuters.

A major round of layoffs begins today at Amazon

The report suggests that Amazon will begin informing employees about the layoffs on Tuesday, which is today. Managers have already been trained on how to deliver the news, and email notifications are expected to start going out soon after. The cuts are focused on corporate roles, which are around 10 per cent of Amazon’s 3.5 lakh corporate staff. They make up a small fraction of its total global workforce of over 1.5 million. Still, this will be Amazon’s largest job reduction since late 2022, when nearly 27,000 roles were eliminated.

Departments likely to be impacted

The layoffs are expected to hit multiple divisions, including Amazon’s human resources wing — known internally as the People Experience and Technology (PXT) team — along with operations, devices, and even Amazon Web Services (AWS). Over the past two years, the company has made smaller cuts in these same areas, including its devices and podcasting divisions. This latest wave, however, appears much broader in scope. According to some insiders, Amazon’s HR unit could see up to 15 per cent of its staff affected.

Why Amazon is taking this step now

CEO Andy Jassy has been on a mission to make Amazon a more efficient organisation since taking over from Jeff Bezos. He has often spoken about cutting unnecessary bureaucracy and speeding up decision-making. Earlier this year, he mentioned that artificial intelligence could play a bigger role in automating routine tasks, something that may have now started to influence staffing decisions. Analysts believe Amazon’s increased reliance on AI tools has made it easier to run teams with fewer people. As one industry expert put it, the company seems to be benefiting enough from AI-driven productivity gains to justify a reduction in its corporate workforce.

Office attendance rules and internal restructuring

Another reason behind the large-scale layoffs appears to be Amazon’s strict return-to-office policy. The company has asked corporate staff to be in the office five days a week, which is one of the toughest mandates among major tech firms. However, the policy hasn’t resulted in as many voluntary resignations as expected. Employees who failed to show up regularly, especially those living far from corporate offices, have reportedly been treated as having resigned without severance pay. The company has also restructured parts of its diversity and inclusion team within the PXT division, assigning new roles and promoting some employees as part of internal reshuffling.

Despite the job cuts, Amazon is still preparing for a busy holiday season. The company plans to hire 2.5 lakh temporary workers to handle the festive rush, the same number as in the past two years. Its cloud arm, AWS, continues to be Amazon’s biggest profit driver, though its growth rate has slightly slowed compared to competitors Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. The company’s shares saw a modest rise of 1.2 per cent on Monday, suggesting that investors view the cost-cutting move positively ahead of its quarterly results due this week.