After over-hiring, Amazon to lay off 20,000 employees in coming months: Report

Amazon is planning to size down its workforce by laying off 20,000 employees in the coming months reportedly after over-hiring during the pandemic.

A report published in Computer world claimed that the e-commerce giant’s employees are ranked from level 1 to level 7, and the decision is going to affect all the levels. The layoffs plan includes centre workers, technology staff and corporate executives.

The report states that company managers have been told to identify work performance problems among employees. Amazon has a 15 lakh workforce, including global distribution centre and hourly workers. Thus, if the company undertakes the layoff, it would be the largest staff reduction in the company’s history equivalent to about 1.3 per cent of its total workforce.

“There is a sense of fear among employees in the company as the news has come out,” the report cites a source. It adds that the corporate staff have been told that employees will receive a 24-hour notice and severance pay.

Earlier last month, The New York Times reported that Amazon plan to lay off around 10,000 people. However, the latest report takes the figure to more than double.

Then Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote an open letter to employees giving information about role eliminations and cost-cutting measures.

“We communicated the difficult decision to eliminate a number of positions across our Devices and Books businesses, and also announced a voluntary reduction offer for some employees in our People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) organization. Our annual planning process extends into the new year, which means there will be more role reductions as leaders continue to make adjustments,” he stated.