Amazon has begun notifying employees affected by new layoffs as part of a plan to cut about 18,000 jobs. The move, following a previous layoff, is part of a very tough day for techies. Microsoft announced Wednesday that it will cut about 10,000 jobs. The company’s CEO predicts the next two years will be difficult for the tech industry.
It’s unclear exactly how many workers will be affected in this particular round, but the company laid off 2,300 employees in Washington, according to the state’s worker adjustment and retraining notification system. Most of the company’s headquarters worked in Seattle, where he has one.
In November, Amazon began its first layoffs. At the time, there were reports that around 10,000 people were affected, including members of our hardware and services, human resources, and retail teams.
Amazon confirmed in January the layoffs and their sheer size, saying that including last year’s, Wednesday’s round, and potential additional cuts for 2023 would affect 18,000 employees overall. A memo by CEO Andy Jassy posted on the company’s website said that affected employees will be notified starting Tuesday.
CNBC said those working in the U.S., Canada and Costa Rica will have to wait until the end of Wednesday based on a memo sent to employees from global retail head Doug Herrington and human resources head Beth Galetti. report that you should know Chinese workers will have to wait until after the Lunar New Year, possibly in late January or early February. In a November memo, the company said it would be in touch with employee representative bodies in several European countries regarding the layoffs repeated in Wednesday’s memo.
According to Herrington’s memo, U.S. workers have “60 days of no-work transition period with full wages and benefits, plus several additional weeks of severance pay, severance pay, and transitional benefits depending on how long they’ve been with the company.” Benefits, and Outsourced Employment Assistance”. The reductions are part of “a broader effort to lower the cost of service delivery so that we can continue to invest in the widest selection, lowest prices and fastest shipping that our customers will love,” it said.
In October, Amazon announced a 15% year-over-year increase in sales thanks to July’s “biggest Prime Day event ever.” The company is likely to announce fourth-quarter earnings early next month. In early January, it made $8 billion in loans to be used for general business purposes.
Amazon’s layoffs are among the largest in the industry, but the company isn’t the only one to cut jobs. We’ve seen major companies like Meta, Snap, DoorDash, and of course Microsoft announce plans to cut hundreds or thousands of jobs over 2022-2023. Nearly 60,000 employees have been laid off in the past year, but across the industry, he will lay off about 300,000 from 2022 onwards.
UPDATE Jan 18 at 7:20 PM ET: Added layoff numbers from Washington state’s WARN system.