Amazon started notifying impacted employees on Wednesday morning as part of its plan to cut 16,000 corporate jobs, according to messages from affected employees shared with Business Insider.
Employees in the US, UK, and India received emails from Amazon HR chief Beth Galetti stating they will continue to receive full pay and benefits for 90 days.
“I have some important, but difficult, news to share with you,” the email states. “After a thorough review of our organization, our priorities, and what we need to focus on going forward, we’ve made the hard business decision to eliminate some roles across Amazon. Unfortunately, your role is being eliminated as part of these changes, and your employment will end after a notification period.”
The notice states employees will receive support in the following ways:
- A non-working period with your full pay and benefits
- A severance package offer and transitional benefits
- External job placement support and 12 months of complimentary access to AWS Skill Builder.
Internal Slack messages viewed by Business Insider suggest impacted teams include those within the company’s Amazon Web Services cloud unit, such as the AI cloud service Bedrock, the cloud data warehouse service Redshift, and the ProServe consulting team, as well as retail business teams such as the Prime subscription service and the last-mile Delivery Experience team.
This round of layoffs is the latest mass job cut since October, when Amazon shed 14,000 roles. Amazon employs more than 1.5 million people globally, though its corporate workforce represents a relatively small share of that total, at roughly 350,000 employees.
Amazon didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Read the full email:
I have some important, but difficult, news to share with you. After a thorough review of our organization, our priorities, and what we need to focus on going forward, we’ve made the hard business decision to eliminate some roles across Amazon. Unfortunately, your role is being eliminated as part of these changes and your employment will end after a notification period.
These decisions weren’t made lightly, and we recognize the significant impact they have. We’re committed to supporting you through this transition with:
A non-working period with your full pay and benefits
A severance package offer and transitional benefits
External job placement support and 12 months of complimentary access to AWS Skill Builder
As of now, you are no longer required to perform work on Amazon’s behalf and will continue to receive your full pay and benefits for the next 90 days.
You likely have questions, and we’re here to answer them. You’ll soon receive an invitation to schedule a conversation with a leader and/or HR point of contact from your team to discuss the specifics of your transition and how we can best support you. While this meeting is optional, we encourage you to attend virtually as it provides an opportunity to address your individual questions. Additionally, you’ll receive a separate email from Amazon – Enterprise Document Management (notifications@atoz.amazon.work) with your formal announcement paperwork by the end of the day today. Please note that your badge access has been restricted; so, if you’re currently in an Amazon office, Security can assist you with exiting the building.
During your non-working transition period, you’ll continue to have access to internal email, Chime, and A to Z on your personal device, and our primary mode of communication with you will be through email. Please keep your YubiKey to access email on a personal laptop/computer.
We encourage you to take time now to confirm that you have access to these tools on your personal device and that your personal email address is up to date in A to Z. You can find more information about installing A to Z, connecting to MyHR, and accessing Chime and email on this page.
We appreciate that this is a difficult update to receive and have shared answers to some of the most common questions related to your pay, benefits, support resources, and next steps below. Remember that caring team members are ready to assist you 24/7 through MyHR or the Employee Assistance Portal (EAP), offering free and confidential support, both available within A to Z.
I’m personally committed to making sure you get the help you need as you navigate this change. Please just reply to this email if you run into any trouble at all getting what you need—whether that’s connectivity issues, questions about next steps, or any other concerns.
Thank you,
Beth Galetti
SVP, People Experience & Technology
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