By
Chimamanda U. Martha
March 11th, 2024
Recently, layoff decisions has somewhat become a trend among global firms.
Online retail giant Amazon has announced its decision to cut down its number of employees due to the global economic situation. The announcement, which comes as a follow-up to a previous one, confirms that the layoffs will affect no less than 18,000 employees of the firm.
According to Amazon Chief Executive, Andy Jassy, full details of the layoffs will emerge by January 18. However, he can confirm that the company’s e-commerce and human resources departments will be largely affected.
Amazon Rues Economic Situation, Continues Massive Layoffs
Per the decision, Amazon will be cutting ties with nearly 6% of its 300,000-man corporate workforce.
Although this kind of decision has somewhat become a trend among global firms recently, it is particularly surprising for Amazon which recently doubled its base pay ceiling for employees.
Citing reasons for the decision to lay off their staff, Jassy says it is mostly as a result of the uncertain economy. He also added that the firm may have hired too rapidly over the past few years.
It might be worth mentioning that this is not the first time Amazon is letting go of its staff in recent times. The firm allegedly began its layoff spree last November, starting with staff from its devices division.
Meanwhile, concerns are being raised in some quarters regarding why Amazon chose to make such an announcement before officially informing the affected staff. Recall that an earlier report in the Wall Street Journal suggested that Amazon was planning to cut down 17,000 jobs. In a response memo to the company’s staff, Jassy wrote:
“We don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted.”
The Chief Executive explained that the announcement was a response to the leak which is why the news is coming before officially reaching out to those affected.
Nonetheless, Amazon will ensure to file legal notices about the mass layoffs and include plans to pay severance.
Tech Industry Layoffs
For what it’s worth, Amazon is not an isolated case when it comes to layoffs. It is an industry-wide trend. According to tracking site Layoffs.fyi, the tech industry as a whole, released over 150,000 workers in total throughout 2022. And just yesterday, Salesforce Inc also revealed plans to axe nearly 10% of its staff as well. According to figures company staff figures available as of October 31, that will amount to about 8,000 jobs. Amazon’s layoffs have now surpassed that of Facebook-parent Meta Platforms. Meta announced 11,000 job cuts in 2022.