18,000 Amazon Employees Will Be Separated With Benefits

Amazon hurriedly announced a job cut due to an internal leak about the decision to reduce the workforce by over 18,000 employees. And these reductions are in addition to the 10,000 layoffs the company announced in November.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Amazon is removing the 18,000 staff it hired during the pandemic
• The impacted workers will be informed on January 18
• The impacted staff will be provided with all support including transitional health insurance

Why Is Amazon Reducing Its Workforce?

CEO Andy Jassy cited the uncertain economy as a reason for the layoff. He also said that the company’s leadership was “deeply aware that these role eliminations were difficult for people, and they didn’t take those decisions lightly.

As of September, the retail giant employs 1.54 million people worldwide excluding seasonal workers recruited during periods of increased activity, particularly during the holiday season. Its global staff was almost doubled due to vengeance hiring during the pandemic time when the demand for online deliveries was at its peak. Most of the recruitments were made at the beginning of 2020 and 2022.

Andy Jassy said that the company will start informing the impacted workers from January 18 but they had to make a sudden announcement because one of their teammates leaked this information externally. Some of the staff will be from Europe.

Amazon Reducing Its Workforce

How Will Amazon Compensate The Impacted Staff?

The company has plans to give packages including a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support to the outgoing staff. Jassy further said that Amazon … Read the rest