Amid massive layoffs due to soaring inflation around the world, e-commerce company Amazon said in a statement that it will cut nearly 1000 jobs at its India branches.
The layoff is part of the company’s latest move that will cut more than 18,000 jobs from its several offices across the globe.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement that employees from various departments from tech to human resources will be impacted. According to reports, freshers who recently joined Amazon India and those who had been working with vast experience will be affected by the company’s latest move.
Citing the “uncertain economy” around the world, the company has informed its Gurugram and Bengaluru based employees through email that they will be fired from their jobs. Expressing his deep regret over the move, Jassy wrote in a blogpost, “This year’s review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years.”
The company has promised its affected employees that they will be entitled to get transitional health insurance benefits, including the separation payment.
“S-team and I are deeply aware that these role eliminations are difficult for people, and we don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted. We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support,” wrote Jassy.
He further added that “uncertain and difficult economies” have forced Amazon to take layoff decisions, and that it will help the company in pursuing long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure. “The layoffs will mostly impact the company’s brick-and-mortar stores, which include Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, and its PXT organisations, which handle human resources and other functions,” wrote the CEO.
A Washington-based company and the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon has more than 1.5 million employees across the globe. It laid off nearly 10,000 workers last year, in November.
Employees Seeking Job Opportunities
Many affected Amazon employees are sharing their experiences on social media while seeking new job opportunities.
“I was impacted by the #layoffs in #amazon yesterday. I am looking for jobs both internally and externally. My separation date is March 17th. I will never regret joining Amazon as every single day I had new things to learn and worked with great set of supporting and intelligent colleagues. I had an amazing manager who used to give importance for our growth and interest. But still this happened due to the re-prioritization of our project and all the new joinees in our team got impacted. Most of us are 2022 graduates,” wrote Nimitha on LinkedIn.
“My 6 yrs journey at Amazon from a customer support associate answering customers and delivery agent calls to Solutions Architect in Big data has come to an end. Unfortunately I was part of the 18k layoffs,” shared Sai kiran Vatekar Moturi.
“I am having multiple domain (experiences) such as telecom, email & chat process, banking & insurance and HR domain. I am having 4.5 years of experience,” said Kolkata-based Pijush Kanti Jhan, who was also affected by the lay-offs.
Amazon India Summoned
Meanwhile, the Pune Labour Commissioner’s office has issued a notice to Amazon India over the company’s decision. Calling for a meeting next week, on January 17, the notice stated that the company’s management and trade union should be present with the necessary documents, records and the power of attorney.
According to media reports, the notice is related to Amazon’s November 2022 move in which the company had offered a “voluntary separation” offer to some Indian employees in the Amazonian Experience and Technology team.
Other Companies Begin Layoffs
Apart from Amazon, several major tech companies in India are also cutting jobs. American multinational investment bank and financial services company Goldman Sachs has begun massive job cuts at its India office due to high inflation. According to the Indian Express, the company has fired close to 800 employees in the last two days. Goldman Sachs, which has nearly 9,000 employees in India, will lay off more than 3,200 employees from its various offices across the globe.
Bengaluru-based online payment provider Cashfree has laid off around 100 employees in the last week. According to the Economic Times, the fintech startup was forced to take a decision to reduce costs and cash burn.
The British telecom group Vodafone is also planning to make its biggest round of job cuts amid the wave of massive layoffs around the globe. According to the Financial Times, Vodafone’s latest layoff move is the biggest in five years, and is seeking to rein in costs and revive its lagging performance. Experts suggest that Vodafone’s latest move will impact hundreds of Indian employees.
Earlier this month, Reuters had reported that Vodafone asked local banks for at least $846 million in emergency liquidity, although domestic banks were hesitant to offer new loans.
Last year, several companies laid off their employees due to the global economic crisis. According to reports, ride-hailing conglomerate Ola fired over 2,500 employees in 2022, followed by 2500 people fired by edtech company Byju’s, 2250 by Swiggy, 2100 by WhiteHat Jr, 1500 by Unacademy, 1200 by Oyo, 1100 by Vedantu, 920 by CureFit, 700 by MakeMyTrip, 620 by Zomato, and 600 by Uber.
Read more: Forbes Features Indian Economy’s Trailblazers In The Post-Pandemic Era
