Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that the company is firing 9000 more employees
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy explains that the company is planning to be more streamlined in its costs and headcount due to the uncertain economy and future
Danny D’Cruze
- New Delhi,
- Updated Mar 21, 2023, 8:48 AM IST
Amazon has decided to let go of 9,000 more employees after the concluding the second phased of its operating plan. The company has decided to lay off 18,000 employees in January. The total job cuts at the e-commerce giant have now reached a whopping 27,000. This is the biggest layoff in the company’s history.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote to his employee explaining the rationale behind the decision to fire more people. He claimed that the decision “is best for the company long term”.
In the memo, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy explains that the company is planning to be more streamlined in its costs and headcount due to the uncertain economy and future. As a result, some positions have been eliminated or reprioritized, leading to 9,000 role reductions in addition to the previously announced 18,000 position eliminations.
Amazon is planning to invest in key long-term customer experiences that will “improve customers’ lives” and the overall performance of Amazon. Jassy acknowledges the difficulty of the situation and thanks those who have been impacted by the reductions for their work on behalf of customers and the company.
The letter also outlines the support that the impacted employees will receive, including a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.
Here’s the entire letter Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote to his employees:
As we’ve just concluded the second phase of our operating plan (“OP2”) this past week, I’m writing to share that we intend to eliminate about 9,000 more positions in the next few weeks—mostly in AWS, PXT, Advertising, and Twitch. This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term.
Let me share some additional context.
As part of our annual planning process, leaders across the company work with their teams to decide what investments they want to make for the future, prioritizing what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our businesses. For several years leading up to this one, most of our businesses added a significant amount of headcount. This made sense given what was happening in our businesses and the economy as a whole. However, given the uncertain economy in which we reside, and the uncertainty that exists in the near future, we have chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount. The overriding tenet of our annual planning this year was to be leaner while doing so in a way that enables us to still invest robustly in the key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve customers’ lives and Amazon as a whole.
As our internal businesses evaluated what customers most care about, they made re-prioritization decisions that sometimes led to role reductions, sometimes led to moving people from one initiative to another, and sometimes led to new openings where we don’t have the right skills match from our existing team members. This initially led us to eliminate 18,000 positions (which we shared in January); and, as we completed the second phase of our planning this month, it led us to these additional 9,000 role reductions (though you will see limited hiring in some of our businesses in strategic areas where we’ve prioritized allocating more resources).
Some may ask why we didn’t announce these role reductions with the ones we announced a couple months ago. The short answer is that not all of the teams were done with their analyses in the late fall; and rather than rush through these assessments without the appropriate diligence, we chose to share these decisions as we’ve made them so people had the information as soon as possible. The same is true for this note as the impacted teams are not yet finished making final decisions on precisely which roles will be impacted. Once those decisions have been made (our goal is to have this complete by mid to late April), we will communicate with the impacted employees (or where applicable in Europe, with employee representative bodies). We will, of course, support those we have to let go, and will provide packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.
If I go back to our tenet—being leaner while doing so in a way that enables us to still invest robustly in the key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve customers’ lives and Amazon as a whole—I believe the result of this year’s planning cycle is a plan that accomplishes this objective. I remain very optimistic about the future and the myriad of opportunities we have, both in our largest businesses, Stores and AWS, and our newer customer experiences and businesses in which we’re investing.
To those ultimately impacted by these reductions, I want to thank you for the work you have done on behalf of customers and the company. It’s never easy to say goodbye to our teammates, and you will be missed. To those who will continue with us, I look forward to partnering with you as we make life easier for customers every day and relentlessly inventing to do so.