Amazon layoffs: Why did the tech giant send two text messages to their employees and ask them to call help desk? Check details

Tech giant Amazon has announced significant job cuts impacting around 14,000 corporate employees despite strong quarterly profits. The company has attributed the job cuts to advancements in artificial intelligence and a strategic shift in AI investments. Amazon laid off 14,000 employees on Tuesday and some employees learned about their layoffs via early morning text messages, reports Business Insider.

On Tuesday morning, Amazon sent two text messages to employees to inform that their jobs had been eliminated, people familiar with the matter told BI. While one message asked affected employees to check their personal or work email. Another text instructed them to contact a help desk about their employment status. This was reportedly done to prevent laid-off staffers from showing up to work and discovering their badges no longer worked. Just to be sure, Amazon sent a second text message directing employees to call a help desk if they had not received “an email message about your role,” Business Insider reported.

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Amazon announces largest layoffs

Tuesday’s layoffs were the latest in Amazon’s efforts to “reduce bureaucracy” across its white-collar workforce, Beth Galetti, Amazon’s executive in charge of human resources, said in a memo to staffers. “While this will include reducing in some areas and hiring in others, it will mean an overall reduction in our corporate workforce of approximately 14,000 roles,” she stated.

Some managers were told Monday to complete training sessions on how to brief laid-off employees once the emails were sent out, sources told Reuters. Several teams were impacted, including ones working on HR, devices, services and operations, according to the outlet. Impacted employees will be able to look for a new role internally. Otherwise, they will be offered severance pay, outplacement services and health benefits, according to Galetti’s memo.

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Amazon planning to slash 30,000 jobs

In total, the Seattle-based company is reportedly planning to slash 30,000 corporate jobs – or about 9% of its global office-based workforce – over the coming weeks, sources told Reuters. Another round of corporate cuts is expected in January, after the busy holiday shopping season, two people familiar with the matter told the New York Times.

Amazon has slashed tens of thousands of jobs since Andy Jassy took over the helm from the company’s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, in 2021. In June, Jassy urged employees to embrace automation and “help us reinvent the company.” He said new tech could create new job opportunities – though he also admitted it could bring “efficiency gains” by helping to reduce the overall workforce.

“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today,” Jassy wrote at the time.

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The company expects to avoid hiring over 600,000 warehouse employees in the coming years due to new technology, even as it projects selling twice as many items during the same period, The New York Times reported. Amazon described the report as “an incomplete and misleading picture of our plans.” In its latest quarterly results, Amazon reported a profit of $18 billion and increased investments in AI data centers. The company’s capital expenditures, which include spending on data centers, are expected to exceed $120 billion this year — nearly 50% higher than last year.

“Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well,” wrote Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of People Experience and Technology, in a memo on Tuesday. Galetti added that “the world is changing quickly,” and Amazon aims to operate “more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership” to make the most of emerging AI opportunities.