Amazon begins mass layoffs; says ‘some roles will longer be required’

Amazon on Wednesday (November 16) began laying off employees and said “some roles will no longer be required”. The job cuts are set to affect 10,000 staff in devices and services, and human resources departments.

Stating that it “pains” him to deliver this news, Dave Limp, Senior Vice President of Devices & Services at Amazon, wrote in a blog post that the decision to cut jobs was taken after “a deep set of reviews”.

“At our last Town Hall in July, I talked a bit about the state of our economy. As you know, we continue to face an unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment. In light of this, we’ve been working over the last few months to further prioritize what matters most to our customers and the business,” Limp wrote to Amazon’s Devices & Services organisation.

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“After a deep set of reviews, we recently decided to consolidate some teams and programs. One of the consequences of these decisions is that some roles will no longer be required,” he added.

Further, he wrote, “It pains me to have to deliver this news as we know we will lose talented Amazonians from the Devices & Services org as a result. I am incredibly proud of the team we have built and to see even one valued team member leave is never an outcome any of us want.”

He said Amazon will try to find new roles within the company for those who are affected. “We notified impacted employees yesterday, and will continue to work closely with each individual to provide support, including assisting in finding new roles. In cases where employees cannot find a new role within the company, we will support the transition with a package that includes a separation payment, transitional benefits, and external job placement support. We know people across the organization may be impacted differently by this news and will lead with compassion for all team members.”

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He told the employees who are losing their jobs that he knows this news is “tough to digest”.

“While I know this news is tough to digest, I do want to emphasize that the Devices & Services organization remains an important area of investment for Amazon, and we will continue to invent on behalf of our customers. Having gone through times like this in the past I know that when there’s a difficult economy, customers tend to gravitate to the companies and products they believe have the best customer experience and that take care of them the best. Historically, Amazon has done a very good job at this,” he said.

Amazon’s layoffs come just weeks after Twitter’s new owner billionaire Elon Musk reduced the social media’s workforce by half and Meta announced it will lay off 13 per cent of its workforce or 11,000 employees.