Amazon is gearing up for a significant workforce reduction, potentially impacting up to 30,000 corporate employees, according to insiders familiar with the company’s strategy. This move aims to curb expenses, address the excess hiring during the pandemic surge, and accelerate the integration of artificial intelligence technologies.
While this number represents only a small portion of Amazon’s overall staff, it would constitute the largest corporate downsizing in the company’s history. Approximately 10% of its roughly 350,000 white-collar employees-out of a total global workforce of 1.55 million-could face layoffs.
This is not the first time Amazon has implemented large-scale job cuts. Over recent years, the company has repeatedly trimmed its workforce to adapt to changing profit margins, shifting business priorities, and the evolving post-pandemic economic landscape.
In late 2022 and early 2023, Amazon executed two major rounds of layoffs, reducing about 27,000 positions across various corporate sectors. These reductions affected divisions such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), advertising, hardware devices, communications, and other non-core business units.
Earlier this year, smaller-scale layoffs also took place. In January, the company cut several roles within its communications and sustainability teams. More recently, around 100 positions were eliminated in the Devices & Services segment, impacting teams responsible for Alexa, Kindle, and other hardware products.
Collectively, these previous reductions have resulted in tens of thousands of job losses, yet none have matched the scale of the current planned layoffs.
Alongside these workforce changes, Amazon has introduced cultural and operational adjustments. The company has enforced a more rigorous return-to-office policy, required some employees to relocate, and indicated that AI-driven automation will further reduce redundant roles-moves insiders interpret as part of a broader cost-control strategy.
In June, CEO Andy Jassy cautioned that the adoption of generative AI and autonomous systems would render certain corporate positions obsolete. The consequences of this announcement are now becoming increasingly evident.
Amazon’s Strategic Challenges, Financial Pressures, and AI as a Catalyst
The upcoming layoffs stem from a combination of factors. During the pandemic, Amazon expanded rapidly to meet soaring consumer demand and to manage supply chain complexities, resulting in widespread hiring across many departments. As demand stabilized and operational inefficiencies grew, the financial strain became untenable.
Additionally, broader economic challenges-including inflation, rising interest rates, and reduced consumer spending-have tightened profit margins across Amazon’s retail, cloud, and hardware sectors. The company is not immune to these macroeconomic pressures.
Moreover, advancements in AI and automation present both an opportunity and a rationale for deeper workforce reductions. Amazon, a leader in cloud computing through AWS, views AI as a transformative tool to streamline internal processes. CEO Jassy has expressed expectations that AI adoption will gradually decrease the number of corporate employees.
Consequently, these layoffs represent more than just cost-cutting measures; they signal a strategic shift. The company aims to redirect resources toward AI initiatives, reduce managerial layers, and eliminate roles that overlap with automation capabilities.
The reductions are expected to affect departments such as Human Resources (specifically the People Experience and Technology group), operations, Devices & Services, and corporate infrastructure. Some reports suggest that up to 15% of HR positions could be cut.
Managers within the impacted areas have reportedly received training on how to deliver layoff notifications, with official communications being sent out imminently.
For those affected, the situation is both immediate and personal. Amazon typically provides severance packages to departing corporate employees, which often include continued salary payments for around 60 days, benefits, and a severance payout calculated based on tenure-usually one to two weeks’ pay per year of service, subject to limits.
Some former employees mention that Amazon has offered voluntary severance options, allowing individuals to leave early in exchange for a predetermined payout rather than waiting for involuntary layoffs. However, concerns have been raised about “quiet dismissals,” where increased performance demands, relocation requirements, or strict return-to-office policies effectively pressure employees to resign voluntarily, thereby circumventing severance obligations.
The timing of these layoffs is notable, as Amazon approaches its holiday season hiring surge, which typically focuses on logistics and fulfillment roles. The current cuts are concentrated on corporate positions, with frontline warehouse and delivery workers likely less impacted.
Despite Amazon’s substantial investments in AI and infrastructure, the company is tightening its workforce, underscoring a broader industry trend where growth is increasingly linked to efficiency, automation, and stringent cost management.
This wave of layoffs coincides with a wider tech sector contraction, as companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet have also reduced thousands of jobs in recent years to recalibrate expectations amid economic challenges and AI-driven transformations.
For Amazon, this round of layoffs may represent the most significant workforce restructuring to date. The company faces the dual challenge of managing the logistics of these cuts while maintaining employee morale, managing public perception, and rebuilding trust among the remaining staff.