Amazon is planning to eliminate around 14,000 positions in its corporate division, the company revealed this week. Beth Galetti, SVP of people experience and technology at Amazon, pointed to artificial intelligence (AI) as one driver for the cuts.
She noted that AI is “enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before,” while also recognizing that Amazon needs “to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership.”
At the end of July, Amazon reported second quarter results which beat Wall Street expectations on several counts, including a 13 percent year-over-year increase in sales to US$167.7 billion.
Last week, Amazon debuted the Blue Jay robot to power AI and automation in its operations. The technology is designed to reduce repetitive tasks, improve safety, and boost productivity while speeding up delivery. Amazon also announced Project Eluna, an agentic AI model built to help operators make more informed decisions.
Amazon is ‘strengthening culture and teams’
Last year, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy posted about strengthening the company’s culture and teams, explaining how Amazon aims to operate like the world’s largest startup, the importance of having the right structure to drive that level of speed and ownership, and the need to be set up to invent, collaborate, be connected, and deliver the absolute best for customers.
“Many of you have put significant effort into that work of strengthening your organizations by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and helping reduce bureaucracy,” wrote Galetti. “We’re already seeing the results, with teams moving faster and many Amazonians feeling more ownership, and the S-team and I appreciate all the work you’ve done.”
The latest reductions are a continuation of the work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure Amazon is investing in its biggest bets and what matters most to customers’ current and future needs, she added.
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AI is the “most transformative technology”
The current generation of AI is the “most transformative technology” seen since the internet, according to Galetti. “Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well. Across our businesses, we’re delivering great customer experiences every day, innovating at a rapid rate, and producing strong business results. What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly.”
Amazon is working to support everyone whose role is impacted in the layoffs, including offering most employees 90 days to look for a new role internally and prioritizing internal candidates to help as many people as possible find new roles within Amazon, Galetti said.
“For our teammates who are unable to find a new role at Amazon or who choose not to look for one, we’ll offer them transition support including severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits, and more.”
Earlier this month, Nestlé, the world’s largest packaged food company, revealed plans to eliminate 16,000 roles in the next two years as it targets huge cost savings supported by business transformation and process automation.