Amazon to Lay Off More Employees in 2023

Amazon's employees are still at risk of losing their jobs in the new year.

Andy Jassy, Amazon's CEO, confirmed to employees in an internal memo that the company would continue to terminate many of them come 2023.

Amazon Devices and Services organization head Dave Limp mentioned that Amazon is executing these layoffs to "consolidate" some programs as some roles are no longer required.

Amazon 2023 Layoffs Details

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy mentioned in their memo that its annual planning process regarding the mass termination of its employees across its various businesses will continue into 2023.

As a result, the decisions coming from this planning process are expected to be shared with the affected employees and the organizations they belong to sometime in early 2023.

Amazon has yet to determine how many of its employees it will lay off as of the writing of this article. However, it is certain that more than a handful of its employees in its Stores and its People, Experience, and Technology organizations will lose their jobs.

Each of the businesses' leaders will communicate to their respective teams about Amazon's decision when its specifics are set.

Affected employees will also be personally notified before Amazon announces them to the broad public or the affected teams as a whole.

Jassy mentioned that the layoffs are "the most difficult decision" the company has made and that it will be working with the affected employees to help them find new roles on teams that need more people. If this accommodation is not possible, terminated employees will receive packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.

Amazon has yet to comment on its decision to extend its layoffs until early 2023.

Regardless, Amazon's layoffs are one of the latest to occur among the tech giants that rapidly flourished during the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Vox report. Even Jassy pointed this fact out in their memo, saying that Amazon hired rapidly over the last several years.

CNBC reported that the layoffs are also the result of Amazon's struggle with the worsening economy, which slowed the growth of some of its organizations and businesses.

A mass layoff of this large scale only happened in 2001, when it terminated 1,500 people or 15% of its staff due to the dot-com crash and a brief recession.

Employee Reaction To Amazon's Extended Layoffs

Amazon employees are unironically not happy with the layoffs, with one senior manager commenting that the layoffs are a "horrendous way" to treat people. They also added that they don't even know if they want to work for Amazon anymore due to the layoffs' demoralizing effect.

Some employees had reportedly put aside their jobs to discuss the layoffs, gathering what information they could get about the future of their livelihoods.

There are some that were able to compile a list of divisions that were experiencing "consolidations" and those that are safe from such treatment, with them being based on internal rumors, self-reported information, and announcements from fellow Amazon employees regarding their termination.