Early Tuesday morning local time, approximately 14,000 Amazon employees received two special text messages informing them of their layoffs. According to Business Insider, the first message reminded employees to check their emails before heading to the office, while the second explicitly stated, "If you haven't received the job change email, please call help desk." This method of sending text messages in the early morning aims to avoid the embarrassment of laid-off employees encountering invalid access control the following day. This practice has been common in previous layoffs at tech companies like Google and Tesla.
This round of Amazon layoffs primarily affects retail manager positions in the United States, continuing the trend of downsizing within Amazon's retail division. Beth Galetti, the company's head of human resources, revealed via internal Slack that laid-off employees will receive 90 days' full salary and benefits, including severance pay. In a blog post published on Tuesday, she emphasized that even with strong company performance, it still needs to adapt to the changes brought about by AI technology: "This generation of AI is the most disruptive technology since the internet, driving us to accelerate innovation in existing and new markets."
It is worth noting that Amazon positions this layoff as a strategic adjustment to "accelerate innovation." As AI technology reshapes business logic, tech giants are adapting to the rapidly changing market environment through organizational restructuring. This round of layoffs affecting tens of thousands not only reflects the impact of technological iteration on employment structure but also foreshadows a profound transformation in global corporate operating models.
