At Amazon, 9,000 more heads will roll in the second round of layoffs

Amazon Inc has announced a second round of layoffs that will result in around 9,000 job cuts across departments such as AWS, People, Experience, and Technology (PXT), Advertising, and Twitch.

In a memo to employees, CEO Andy Jassy stated that while it was a difficult decision, it was necessary for the long-term success of the company.

This move comes amid several layoff rounds in tech companies, including Meta's announcement of cutting 10,000 jobs. Amazon's decision comes just two months after the company had announced it was laying off 18,000 employees.

In November 2022, Jassy had first announced a voluntary reduction offer to some in the PXT and said that more layoffs would be expected in 2023. In January, he had announced the elimination of 18,000 roles, primarily in Amazon Stores and PXT.

Jassy stated in the memo that the newly announced role reductions weren't clubbed with the previous announcement as not all teams were done with their analyses at the time.

He also mentioned that the impacted teams are not yet finished making final decisions on precisely which roles will be impacted, and the company expects to complete this by mid-to-late April.

Amazon will provide support for employees who are being laid off, including a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support. For the layoffs in December and January, the company paid out $640 million in severance packages.

For the layoffs in December and January, the company paid out $640 million in severance packages. 

In India, the company has earlier been summoned by the Pune Labour Commission over the voluntary separation program, after a complaint by the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) terming the program to be illegal.