Text messages told employees they had been laid off: How Amazon’s job cuts unfolded

When Amazon began laying off 14,000 people, employees were notified via text message that they were relieved.

According to a report with Business ContentThe e-commerce giant sent two messages to its employees on Tuesday to inform them of their termination.

One of the two messages Amazon sent to employees encouraged them to check their personal or official emails before heading to work.

The second text, meanwhile, instructed employees to call the help desk if they did not receive “an email message about your role.”

This highly unorthodox strategy for laying off employees was to make sure people didn’t show up to work to find their access cards no longer worked, according to people familiar with the matter.

Because most tech company offices have badge-based access, the problem of terminated employees coming to work and finding their badges no longer worked was a common occurrence during mass layoffs at Google and Tesla.

More layoffs expected

After Reuters initially reported that Amazon would lay off 30,000 people, the Jeff Bezos-led firm announced that it would actually cut 14,000 jobs.

“The reductions 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,” Amazon HR chief Beth Galetti said in a blog post on Tuesday.

Amazon HR chief also said in an internal email accessed by BI that laid-off employees will be supported with full pay and benefits for 90 days following their termination.

“We have not taken these decisions lightly and are committed to supporting you through this transition, which will include a non-working period with full salary and benefits (as applicable), a severance package offer, temporary benefits applicable by country and access to a range of skills training as well as external job placement support,” the email said.

Notably, the layoffs come months after Amazon CEO Andy Jassy warned that artificial intelligence would take jobs at the e-commerce giant.

Building on Jassy’s warning, Galetti also hinted at more layoffs in the near future.

“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we have seen since the Internet, enabling companies to innovate faster than ever before,” said Amazon HR chief.

“As Andy mentioned earlier this year, as we look to 2026, we expect to continue hiring in key strategic areas while also finding additional places where we can remove layers, increase ownership and achieve efficiency gains,” Galetti added.

The last major company-wide layoffs at Amazon occurred three years ago and were implemented over five months.