Amazon’s HR chief last month sought to damp concern among employees that mass lay-offs were now the norm. Cuts of more than 30,000 workers since October were not the “beginning of a new rhythm”, insisted Beth Galetti. “That’s not our plan.”
The world’s largest company by revenue has enacted rounds of job cuts since chief executive Andy Jassy took charge in 2021 after a period of rapid expansion in the pandemic. The company’s leadership says the latest cull serves a strategic aim: to make Amazon operate “like the world’s largest start-up”, ready to innovate using AI and by running “with fewer layers and more ownership”.
Yet for survivors left to work another day, the mood has felt increasingly sombre. “Day to day it just feels untenable. Our workload is increasing and the number of [problems] to deal with is just piling up,” said one longstanding employee. “Some managers know this is the case, but executives just keep pointing to some bigger AI picture.”