The e-commerce company, Amazon has slashed its direct workforce by nearly 1 lakh, the largest sequential drop in its history, primarily at its fulfillment centres and distribution network.
The e-commerce behemoth still employs over 15 lakh people, the highest in the tech world. These layoffs are the results as Amazon said that it sees stabilization in the workforce. The Company also plans to go slow on hiring, henceforth, like so many other firms.
With the recession fears mounting—and inflation, the war in Ukraine, and the pandemic taking a toll are the main reasons behind many tech companies rethinking their staffing needs. The companies are instituting hiring freezes, rescinding offers, and making rounds of layoffs.
According to Brian Olsavsky, Chief Financial Officer, Amazon plans to become more cautious in its hiring at its headquarters and other facilities going forward.
Brian Olsavsky, said, “I think it’s right for people to step back and question their hiring plans. We’re doing that, as well. I don’t think you’ll see us hiring at the same pace we did over the last year or the last few years.”
He added, “Prior year, we had reduced our net headcount by 27,000. So we’re pretty transparent about the fact that we had hired a lot of people in Q1 for the coverage of the omicron variant,” he informed.
Luckily, that variant subsided, and the company was left with a higher headcount position.
“We’ve — that has come down through adjusting our hiring levels and normal attrition, and is pretty — was pretty much resolved by the end of April or early part of May. So that is dominating the quarter-over-quarter reduction in headcount,” he added.
Amazon said that right now, it sees a stabilisation in the workforce.
“It was a very difficult labour period in the second half of last year, and it didn’t arrive kind of quickly out of nowhere. So we’re certainly diligent on that and making sure we have a good workplace and an environment that will attract employees,” said Olsavsky.
Amazon will continue to add headcount in a “very targeted” way.
