Several thousand Amazon workers woke up to text messages on Tuesday that said they have been fired from their jobs as part of the tech giant’s global restructuring plans.
Amazon issued the pink slips before the employees reached their offices, a report by the Business Insider said.
Some of the text messages asked the employees to check their work mails or to connect with the help desk to check their employment status, the report said citing sources and screenshots of text messages.
Amazon said on Tuesday it will reduce its global corporate workforce by about 14,000 people, with more cuts expected next year, in a major shakeup driven in part by adoption of artificial intelligence at the tech giant.
The online retailer began laying off employees across multiple divisions as part of a plan, first reported on Monday by Reuters, to cut as many as 30,000 employees. The company has not confirmed the broader layoff plan, but in a companywide email indicated further cuts were planned.
Amazon is working to compensate for over-hiring during the peak demand of the pandemic and to limit costs as it enters its crucial holiday selling season.
Amazon had about 1.56 million full-time and part-time employees at the end of last year. Its corporate workforce includes roughly 350,000 employees.
The layoffs offer an early look at the possibly broad effects of AI on workforces.
With agency inputs
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