Amazon is preparing for a significant reduction in its corporate workforce. According to a new report, the tech giant plans to cut as many as 30,000 jobs beginning this week.
The layoffs would mark Amazon’s largest job cut since late 2022. The move is part of a broader effort to reduce expenses and streamline operations.
While the figure is a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.5 million total employees, it represents nearly 10% of its corporate staff. The company had previously eliminated about 27,000 positions in 2022.
The cuts are expected to affect a wide range of divisions. These include human resources (PXT), operations, devices, and the profitable Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud unit.
Managers have already been trained on how to communicate the news to their teams. Notifications are scheduled to be sent out starting Tuesday.
Read: Microsoft Announces 9,000 Layoffs, Impacting Less Than 4% of Workforce
The layoffs align with CEO Andy Jassy’s initiative to reduce corporate bureaucracy. He has previously cited AI as a factor that would likely lead to further job cuts by automating routine tasks.
An analyst noted that the scale of the cuts suggests Amazon is realising significant productivity gains from AI. This helps offset the massive costs of building its AI infrastructure.
The company’s strict return-to-office mandate also failed to generate enough voluntary attrition. This is cited as another reason for the size of the layoffs.
Despite the corporate cuts, Amazon is still hiring in other areas. It plans to offer 250,000 seasonal jobs for the holiday season to staff its warehouses.
