Amazon layoffs: Tech giant’s mega job-cut drive eliminated this one specific role the most, data shows
Amazon announced in October that it would lay off 14,000 corporate employees. Amazon’s biggest layoffs in three years affected all areas of the company’s business, from cloud computing and devices to advertising, retail and grocery stores.
But one job category saw the biggest impact: engineers.
About 40% of the roughly 4,700 layoffs in those places were for engineering positions, according to a report by CNBC, citing documents filed in New York, California, New Jersey and Washington.
Joining many other major tech companies in announcing major layoffs, Amazon has reported Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN)-related data to government agencies.
Filings representing a portion of the data show that layoffs at Amazon in October affected various levels of software engineers. However, SDE II roles or mid-level employees were disproportionately affected.
This comes even though human resources chief Beth Galetti noted in her memo announcing layoffs at Amazon that the company now specifically needs engineers as it continues to manage working with fewer people.
“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we have seen since the Internet, allowing companies to innovate faster than ever before,” Galetti wrote.
“We believe we need to organize in a leaner way, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and our business,” he added.
More than 500 product managers and program managers were laid off following the October announcement, CNBC reported, citing WARN data; this represents more than 10% of total layoffs.
Executive and manager-level roles were also eliminated as part of the layoffs at Amazon.
Layoffs at Amazon
Amazon announced in October that it would lay off 14,000 people across divisions.
Amazon’s corporate workforce consists of approximately 350,000 employees; This means that the 14,000 cuts announced in October represent around 4% of this headcount.
“The discounts we’re sharing today are a continuation of that work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and the things that matter most to our customers’ current and future needs,” Beth Galetti, senior vice president of human experience and technology at Amazon, said in a blog post.
CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly said he is committed to cutting layers of management and streamlining the bureaucracy that has begun to afflict Amazon in the wake of the pandemic-era hiring spree.
