Amazon confirmed on Thursday that it had begun laying off employees to deal with the economic crisis, after rumors of a social plan for the e-commerce giant had been circulating for days.
“The economy remains a complex situation, and we’ve been hiring employees rapidly in recent years,” said Andy Jassy, CEO of the US group, in an internal note posted on Amazon.
And US media have indicated that the platform, in its various subsidiaries, will lay off around 10,000 employees.
Andy Jassy did not confirm this number, but said the trial began on Wednesday and will continue early next year.
The dismissal procedures concern, in an initial phase, the personnel operating in the sector of electronic devices of the brand, such as “Kindle” reading devices. As for existing stores, they won’t be affected by the layoffs.
“There will be more job cuts as managers advance their adjustments,” said the Amazon CEO, explaining that “affected employees and organizations will be notified of these decisions in early 2023.”
“I’ve been in this position for almost a year and a half and this is without a doubt the toughest decision we’ve made in that time,” said Jassy.
He stressed that he realizes that it’s not just about “jobs” but about “people who have passions, aspirations and responsibilities, and whose lives will be affected.”
The extent of the cut, of 10,000 employees, is just under 1% of the group’s current wage freeze, which at the end of September employed 1.54 million people worldwide, excluding seasonal workers hired during peak periods. of the celebrations of the year.
Two weeks ago, the company announced a hiring freeze in its offices.
Its workforce has actually shrunk since the start of the year, when it had 1.62 million people working full-time or part-time.
Amazon has hired large numbers of workers during the pandemic to deal with the explosion in demand.
The number of global workers doubled between early 2020 and early 2022.
But the US retail giant saw its net income fall 9% year over year in the third quarter of this year.
For the current quarter, the group expects a slight growth compared to its standards during the end-of-year celebration period, ranging between 2% and 8% over one year.
A number of tech companies that have employed significant hiring during the pandemic have recently announced social plans, including Meta (Facebook), Instagram, Twitter, and Stripe.
ap
