Amazon is said to be carrying out massive layoffs this week. According to a report by The New York Times, the company plans to cut around 10,000 jobs.
Employees in the consumer devices division are one of the departments likely to be affected by the layoffs.
Amazon employs around 1.5 million employees globally. If the company does cut employees, it will affect about three percent of the workforce and is arguably the largest reorganization in Amazon’s nearly 30-year history.
Regarding the issue of layoffs, there has been no official response from Amazon. This is as quoted from Engadget, Tuesday (15/11/2022).
For Amazon, the news of the layoffs reflects a change in the company’s fortunes. At the start of the pandemic, the retail giant was experiencing record growth and hiring that doubled its workforce.
In recent months, however, the company’s growth has slowed due to a combination of rising costs and a return to in-person shopping culture.
The company recently posted a loss of US $ 2 billion and froze the recruitment of new employees at some of its branches.
Mass layoffs have occurred in the United States’ technology sector in recent weeks. On November 9, Facebook‘s parent company ‘Meta‘ cut about 13 percent of its workforce, leaving more than 11,000 people out of work.
Previously, Twitter was also hit hard after Elon Musk ordered a 50 percent reduction in the number of company employees.
Over the weekend, the company also laid off most of its contract workers. Other companies such as Lyft and Snap have also laid off employees in recent months.