Amazon increases layoffs from 10,000 to 18,000 employees starting this month
Amazon is increasing the number of employees it plans to axe.
In a message to workers made public, Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy says the e-commerce giant plans to lay off just over 18,000 employees.
He says that while several teams are impacted, the majority of the eliminations are in its Amazon Stores and its People Experience and Technology Solutions (PXT Solutions) team.
“[We’re] 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,” stated Jassy.
The company plans on communicating with impacted employees starting on January 18.
Daily Hive asked Amazon over email how many Canadian employees have been affected by the layoffs. A spokesperson for the company said it doesn’t have anything to share beyond Jassy’s post.
Our CEO Andy Jassy just shared a message to Amazon employees. https://t.co/cw5Dl6WY84
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) January 5, 2023
This news comes after the tech giant initially announced 10,000 layoffs in November last year, making it the largest number of job cuts in the company’s history, representing roughly 3% of its corporate staff and less than 1% of more than 1.5 million employees around the globe.
It affected those who worked on Amazon devices including voice-assistant Alexa, as well as its retail division and human resources.
Staff in Vancouver and Toronto were affected, sharing the bad news on their LinkedIn.
Jassy says these additional layoffs are the outcome of further reviews that have been “more difficult given the uncertain economy” and that they’ve “hired rapidly over the last several years.”
The company is planning to support laid-off workers by providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.
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