Amazon is cutting 16,000 jobs in its second major round of layoffs in three months. The company says it needs to reduce bureaucracy and speed up decisions as it competes in the AI race. According to CNN Business, the cuts affect corporate employees across the company.
Amazon Streamlines Operations
Beth Galetti leads Amazon’s people division. She said the company wants to strengthen its structure by reducing layers and removing red tape. The goal is to increase ownership and help teams work faster.
CEO Andy Jassy wants Amazon to operate like the world’s biggest startup. He wants the company to stay nimble so it can adapt quickly as AI changes the technology sector. In late October, Amazon cut 14,000 corporate employees.
Amazon employs over 350,000 corporate workers. It is America’s second-largest private employer behind Walmart. The two recent rounds of cuts represent about 9% of the company’s office staff.
AI Drives Business Changes
Competition and Efficiency
Amazon faces stiff competition from Microsoft, Google, Meta, and OpenAI. These companies are racing to build computing power and language models for the future economy. Jassy has said the layoffs focus on efficiency rather than cost savings.
Jassy wrote last year that AI efficiency gains would allow the company to reduce its workforce. He said Amazon will need fewer people doing some current jobs and more people doing other types of work. He predicted billions of AI agents will be put into service across every company and field.
Layoffs began Wednesday. Most employees get 90 days to look for new roles internally. Workers who are not rehired will receive severance pay and benefits. Galetti said the waves of layoffs will not become a new rhythm. Amazon will hire strategically in areas critical to its future.
A Vanguard report shows jobs highly exposed to AI automation are growing faster than before the pandemic. The findings suggest AI is not yet causing widespread job losses. Some companies eliminate positions because AI can automate tasks or make workers more efficient. But there is no evidence of widespread damage yet.
