This is probably the most massive staff reduction in Amazon’s history. The e-commerce giant, Amazon, has announced the loss of more than 18,000 jobs, including in Europe.
In November 2022, this job cut was estimated by Amazon at only 10,000 positions, which is not nothing. But Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced on Wednesday that this figure has been revised upwards in a message published on the American group’s website.
” Reviewing our annual planning (…) has been more challenging this year given the economic uncertainty and the fact that we have been hiring heavily over the past few years “Explains Amazon.
Amazon has therefore decided to announce “ this news quickly “, after having were” revealed by an employee, indicated the CEO of the group, without specifying the distribution of these job cuts. He also mentioned that the employees concerned “ or their representatives, if any, in Europe will be contacted by the band on January 18.
The layoffs will mainly affect the company’s physical stores, which include Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, as well as some internal departments, such as human resources, the manager said.
During the pandemic, and in order to meet the explosion in demand, Amazon has made numerous hirings doubling its global staff between the beginning of 2020 and the beginning of 2022.
At the end of September 2022, Amazon employed some 1.54 million people worldwide, in addition to seasonal workers recruited during periods of increased activity, in particular during the end-of-year holidays when parcels and gifts are sent done massively.
“ Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so (…) These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure (…). Businesses that last for a long time go through different phases. They are not in massive staff expansion mode every year “, assures the boss of the American group, Jeff Bezos.