Amazon is in the process of laying off 18,000 employees, the largest layoff in the company’s 29-year history. But even as the internet giant lays off staff amid a slowing economy, Amazon is still adding hundreds of new workers to its payroll and looking to expand certain businesses.
The company has been posting new job listings and updating existing ones in several select areas of its business in the weeks since it announced job cuts earlier this month. These groups include the Ring doorbell business, Amazon’s entertainment business, and its pharmacy business, with job ads posted specifically for engineers, supply chain managers, and sales representatives.
The job postings show where the company is shifting its focus even as it takes a tougher look at costs and seeks to reverse aggressive hiring during the pandemic. Other big tech companies like Alphabet, Meta, and Salesforce have also announced massive layoffs due to overhiring.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the layoffs will particularly affect corporate employees in device businesses that make voice-enabled gadgets like Amazon’s Echo line of products, book businesses, Amazon stores, and employees in human resources. said. Amazon’s management team has been looking at ways to prioritize “what matters most to our customers and the long-term health of our business,” Jussie said in a January blog post announcing the layoffs. You have to be inventive, resourceful and crafty.” At this time we are not hiring extensively. “
Amazon had more than 1.5 million employees worldwide at the end of October, most of whom work hourly in the company’s warehouses and other facilities. An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment on the job listing, but pointed to previous statements the company made about plans for targeted hiring despite layoffs.
Here are some of the areas where Amazon is still embracing:
ring
CEO Jassy named the device business as one of the main areas of layoffs, but the Ring business (which Amazon reportedly acquired for $1 billion in 2018) appears to be still in growth mode.
Since January 4, when Amazon announced it was laying off 18,000 people, Ring has posted or updated 30 jobs. Roles include product and program managers tasked with “reinventing new device categories”, quality assurance engineers, and software development engineers helping build live view streaming capabilities and computer vision trigger actions. The team is also looking for content producers to run branded campaigns on social media and get buyers to install video doorbells and security cameras on their doorsteps. Some of Ring’s job openings are in Poland, where Amazon’s development center is located.
The Ring product has sparked controversy as a form of workplace surveillance for delivery workers and over an incident in which the company provided video to police without the owner’s permission, but it remains a very popular product and will be released in 2021. has sold over 1.7 million doorbells.
entertainment
Amazon is making some holes in its podcast studio Wondery, part of its music business. The company is looking for an account executive and an ad his solutions manager.
And while Amazon’s previous attempts at getting into gaming have ended in failure, the company appears eager to become a more major player in a post that says it’s “fully committed” to the game. increase. Job openings include Gameplay Development Manager for the PC game New World and Producer working with the production team on new titles.
Supply chain and safety
As supply chain stress remains high, Amazon is hiring representatives who can support its supply chain networks in North America, India, and the EU. Amazon is also hiring managers to work on last-mile deliveries and organizing new programs for its supply chain system.
luck We also saw a number of recent job listings related to worker safety and health services. A separate list of ‘Onsite Medical Personnel’ for different regions posted or updated in the past month. Amazon was recently fined $60,269 after federal regulators said warehouse conditions were causing back and joint injuries.
In contrast, Amazon’s data science group is relatively full. Since January 4th, only 5 data science job listings have been posted or updated, including internships and youth apprenticeships.
Cutting headcount in some departments while hiring in others is not entirely unexpected. In a November memo on hiring, human resources chief Beth Garetti said Amazon continues to monitor the economy and will hire “a significant number” of people in 2023.
“In general, we employ backfills to replace employees who move into new opportunities, depending on the business and areas of the company. ”
But since Galetti’s comments in November, Amazon has increased the number of job cuts from an initial estimate of 10,000 to 18,000 today.
Many of the affected employees have shared on social media that they are currently job hunting. A software development manager wrote a LinkedIn post aimed at helping employees on her team find new jobs.
“Many have visas and need to find work within Amazon or return to India. Others are now trying to find a way forward,” the post said.
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