Amazon starts layoffs in India and informs fired employees through email, promises 5 months pay
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy confirmed layoffs are coming. Jassy announced that more than 18000 employees will be impacted by layoffs, including many from India. Past reports hinted that Amazon could fire nearly 1000 employees in India across various departments, including tech, human resource, and some more. Looks like the tech company has begun firing employees globally, including in India. In last week’s blog post, Jassy confirmed the company will communicate with impacted employees after January 18.
As layoffs begin at Amazon, many impacted employees have taken to social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter to share that they have been laid off and are open to new opportunities. Sources close to India Today Tech reveal that layoffs have hit multiple departments operating from India, across offices in Bengaluru, Gurugram, and others. Loss-making teams are most impacted. Among the laid-off employees are both freshers and experienced employees.
Amazon has sent an email to impacted employees informing them that they have been laid off. The email, our sources confirm, asks the employee to meet the leadership team on a specified date to get more clarity on the situation. In the same email, the company promised to offer 5 months of severance pay, which Elon Musk’s Twitter is conveniently avoiding. Most former Twitter employees laid off by Elon Musk last year are still waiting to get updates on severance. Some employees have received severance mail from the company that landed in the spam folder, but aren’t very happy with the payment structure.
Amazon layoffs have just begun and are expected to go on for a few more weeks. In last week’s blogpost, the Amazon CEO said that the firm over-hired during the pandemic and hence needs to let go of thousands of employees in the weeks to come. “This year’s review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years,” the Amazon CEO noted in the official blogpost.
“We plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles. Several teams are impacted; however, the majority of role eliminations are in our Amazon Stores and PXT organizations,” Jassy wrote in the blogpost. As some relief to impacted employees, Jassy promised to offer severance pay, health benefits, and other necessary support to impacted employees. “S-team and I are deeply aware that these role eliminations are difficult for people, and we don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted. We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support,” the Amazon CEO wrote in blogpost.
Many impacted Amazon India employees have taken to LinkedIn and Twitter to share the update and look for newer job opportunities. In addition, the tech firm has also withdrawn full-time job offers, leaving the candidate with no job at all. Meta recently confirmed revoking full-time offers and also hinted at slowing hiring for all of 2023.
