Amazon began notifying Amazon Web Services and human resources employees impacted by its latest round of layoffs on Wednesday, as the company continues to trim headcount to cut costs.
The layoffs are part of the 9,000-person corporate workforce reduction announced by the company in March. The cuts mostly affect AWS, human resources (which Amazon calls PXT, for People Experience and Technology), Amazon Advertising, and Twitch.
Amazon in January announced a 18,000-person layoff, the largest in the Seattle company’s history. The additional 9,000 layoffs bring the total to 27,000 job cuts, about 8% of Amazon’s corporate workforce, which previously numbered around 350,000 people.
The company has trimmed back and eliminated several products, services, and entire businesses over the past year to help cut expenses, including its Scout neighborhood delivery robots, its Amazon Care primary healthcare business, bricks-and-mortar Amazon bookstores, and others. Amazon said Wednesday that it was shutting down its Halo health devices and service.
Amazon reports its first quarter earnings Thursday. The company’s stock is up more than 20% this year, but down 24% over the past 12 months.
Here are the memos sent to employees on Wednesday from AWS chief Adam Selipsky and PXT chief Beth Galetti.
AWS team,
As you know, we recently made the difficult decision to eliminate some roles across Amazon globally, including within AWS. I wanted to let you know that conversations with impacted AWS employees started today, with notification messages sent to all impacted employees in the U.S., Canada, and Costa Rica. In other regions, we are following local processes, which may include time for consultation with employee representative bodies and possibly result in longer timelines to communicate with impacted employees.
It is a tough day across our organization. I fully realize the impact on every person and family who is affected. We are working hard to treat everyone impacted with respect, and to provide a number of resources and touchpoints to aid in this transition. This also includes packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.
To those to whom we are saying goodbye today, thank you for everything you have done for this business and our customers. I am truly grateful. To all AWS builders, thank you for your compassion and empathy for your colleagues.
Both the size of our business and the size of our team have grown significantly over recent years, driven by customer demand for the cloud and for the unique value AWS provides. This growth has come quickly as we’ve moved as fast as we could to build what customers have needed. Given this rapid growth, as well as the overall business and macroeconomic climate, it is critical that we focus on identifying and putting our resources behind our top priorities—those things that matter most to customers and that will move the needle for our business. In many cases this means team members are shifting the projects, initiatives or teams on which they work; however, in other cases it has resulted in these role eliminations.
The fundamentals and the outlook for our business are strong, and we are very confident in our long-term prospects. We are the leading cloud provider by a wide range of benchmarks, from our feature set to our security capabilities to our operational performance. We are focused on continuing to innovate in the areas that matter most to our customers as we help them minimize expense, innovate rapidly, and transform their organizations.
I am optimistic about the future. We’ll tackle our opportunities and our challenges, and continue to change the world.
Thank you,
Adam
Galetti’s memo:
PXT Team,
As Andy shared a few weeks ago, leaders across the company have worked closely with their teams to decide what investments they are going to make for the future, prioritizing what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our businesses. Given PXT’s close partnership with the business, these shifts impact our OP2 plans as well, and we have made the difficult decision to eliminate additional roles within the PXT organization.
Today we shared this update with our PXT colleagues whose roles were impacted across the U.S., Canada, and Costa Rica. In other regions, we are following local processes, which may include time for consultation with employee representative bodies and possibly result in longer timelines to communicate with impacted employees.
These decisions are not taken lightly, and I recognize the impact it will have across both those transitioning out of the company as well as our colleagues who remain.
To those leaving, I want to say thank you for your contributions. You’ve helped build Amazon into the extraordinary company it is today, and we are here to support you during this difficult time. In the U.S., we are providing packages that include a 60-day, non-working transitional period with full pay and benefits, plus an additional several weeks of severance depending on tenure, a separation payment, transitional benefits, and external job placement support.
While this moment is hard, I remain energized by the important work that lies ahead of us. Together, we are building a workplace that helps fuel how Amazonians invent and deliver for customers. From making it easier for employees to find the information and help they need, to expanding our benefits, I am proud of the progress we’ve made over the last few years. This meaningful work is a direct reflection of PXT’s perseverance, resilience, and leadership. Thank you.
Please know that the entire PXTLT, including myself, is here to answer your questions and support you.
-Beth
Source: GeekWire
