Fresh Rounds Of Layoffs At Amazon: 9000 Employees Across AWS, Advertising And Twitch To Be Impacted

Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO, has stated in a blog post that the tech giant would undergo another round of layoffs. There will be a reduction of 9000 jobs in the next few weeks. He has even mentioned that the fresh round of layoffs will impact staff from the Amazon web services or AWS, Amazon People eXperience and Technology advertising, and a streaming platform for gamers named Twitch. 

The changes have been declared after a month when the e-commerce industry revealed in January this year that it would undergo layoffs of 18000 employees. The decision has been taken amidst other tech companies rushing through rapid layoffs to reduce their head count. The reasons behind such drastic layoffs have been attributed to the uncertain economy and overhiring.

The previous layoffs impacted several teams, but the majority of pink slips have been handed to employees from the Amazon stores and PXT sector. He has revealed that he understands that the job cuts are difficult for the individuals, and they have not come to a decision lightly.

He added that they have worked to provide support to those individuals impacted by the layoffs and are providing packages that include a severance payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.

At the same time, Meta, a Facebook-parent company, has decided to go through another round of layoffs as they would slash 10,000 jobs in the second round of mass layoffs. The fresh round of layoffs accounted for 13 percent or 11000 employees.

Andy Jassy has mentioned in his post that as the company has concluded the second part of its operating plan in the last week, they plan to eliminate about 9000 more positions in the next few weeks. The slacks would take place in AWS, PXT, advertising, and Twitch.

Jassy added that they did not announce the layoffs in January because all the teams were not done with the analyses. They did not rush through the decision without adequate diligence and informed the people in all the sectors when they received the information.

The company’s internal businesses underwent re-prioritization decisions that have led to reductions in job roles, shifting individuals from one project to another and to new openings. The statements were mentioned in his blog post.

The reprioritizing decisions have led them to eliminate 18000 positions, and they completed the second phase of planning in March. The individuals will see limited hiring in some parts of businesses in strategic areas where they have prioritized allocating more resources.

At the same time, Disney has asked the managers to submit a list of employees who will be handed pink slips in the next few weeks in an attempt to cut costs. According to sources, it has been found that Disney may lay off 4000 employees in April.

It is the second round of layoffs for the e-streaming platform this year after Bob Iger, the CEO of the company, decided to slash 7000 jobs in February due to declining revenue.

Layoffs have come to light when the global economy is experiencing a downturn, and concepts such as laying off employees and recession have gained significant traction. Analysts predict that the restructuring process will continue in 2023, as companies and global economies prepare to face significant challenges.

According to a survey, over 2 lakh tech jobs were lost the previous year, with Facebook parent company Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google collectively laying off over 51000 employees. 

Global layoffs continue amidst economic turmoil:

The overhiring process in multiple tech industries during the covid-19 pandemic, the Russian-Ukraine war, and the ongoing recession all contributed to such layoffs.

Many IT companies experienced massive growth during Covid-19 and continued with the hiring process, only to discover that things took a negative turn after the pandemic constraints and lockdowns were raised, and the situation returned to normal. Furthermore, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has interrupted the supply chain, resulting in an increase in interest rates and fuel costs, followed by rising inflation. All these factors have serious economic consequences and have resulted in layoffs at companies.

According to analysts, mass layoffs may not be required to cope with the global macroeconomic situation. There are other options, such as lowering salaries, deferring appraisals, or reducing employee work hours. Even if there is a shift in the industry, employers must prioritize training existing employees over hiring new ones.

edited and proofread by Nikita sharma