Amazon Announces Fresh Round of Retail Job Cuts

Global e-commerce giant Amazon has announced another round of layoffs in its core retail business. The latest job cuts are primarily affecting employees in the company’s “Stores” unit, which oversees its main online shopping operations.

According to a Reuters report, the latest layoffs were announced while Amazon was hosting Prime Big Deal Days, its major global shopping event. The timing has reportedly sparked renewed concern among employees who received news of potential job losses during the peak shopping period.

Scale of Layoffs and Affected Departments

According to people familiar with the matter, at least around 1,000 white-collar employees have been affected by the latest round of job cuts. The layoffs are not limited to the United States; employees at Amazon offices in India and the United Kingdom have also received notices.

Many employees expressed anger and anxiety through Amazon’s internal Slack communication platform. Customer service and seller-support operations were among the areas most heavily affected.

Amazon said the restructuring was intended to better align its workforce with the company’s current business priorities.

Pandemic-Era Hiring and Jeff Bezos’ Explanation

Amazon significantly expanded its workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic as online shopping surged among people staying at home.

In an interview with Fox News, Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos said the company had been forced to hire more employees than it actually needed because of the extraordinary pressure during the pandemic. As conditions later returned to normal, managing such a large workforce became increasingly challenging.

The latest layoffs are part of Amazon’s ongoing efforts to restore organisational balance following a broader round of cuts involving approximately 30,000 employees that began last year.

//DBTech/BMT/OR//