NEW DELHI, India — Amazon said Wednesday it will lay off about 16,000 employees globally as part of what it described as additional organizational changes, marking the company’s second major round of job cuts in roughly three months.
Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of People Experience and Technology, said the reductions are part of an ongoing effort to reshape the company’s structure.
“We’re making additional organizational changes across Amazon that will impact some of our teammates,” Galetti said in a blog post, acknowledging the difficulty of the announcement. “I recognize this is difficult news, which is why I’m sharing what’s happening and why.”
Galetti said Amazon has been working to streamline its operations by reducing management layers, increasing ownership, and cutting bureaucracy.
“As I shared in October, we’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy. While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now,” she said.
The layoffs will affect approximately 16,000 roles across the company. Amazon said most U.S.-based employees impacted by the cuts will be given 90 days to search for new roles internally, with timelines varying in other countries depending on local regulations.
For employees who are unable to secure another position within the company, or who choose not to pursue one, Amazon said it will provide transition assistance.
“We’ll provide transition support including severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits (as applicable), and more,” the company said.
Amazon emphasized that it will continue hiring and investing in strategic areas critical to its long-term growth.
“We’re still in the early stages of building every one of our businesses and there’s significant opportunity ahead,” Galetti said.
The latest announcement follows an earlier decision by the company to cut about 14,000 roles. Addressing concerns that frequent layoffs could become routine, Amazon said it does not plan to make broad reductions every few months.
“Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm – where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan,” the company said. “But just as we always have, every team will continue to evaluate the ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate.” (Source: IANS)
