Amazon has announced a further 16,000 job cuts worldwide as it presses ahead with plans to slim down management layers and “remove bureaucracy”, putting an unspecified number of UK roles at risk.
The latest round of layoffs follows the elimination of 14,000 white-collar jobs in October and forms part of Amazon’s broader ambition to shed around 30,000 corporate roles. While the majority of the new cuts will fall in the United States, teams in the UK and India are also affected. Amazon employs around 75,000 people in Britain but has not disclosed how many UK positions could be lost.
The cuts are expected to hit white-collar roles across Amazon Web Services, Prime Video, retail operations and human resources, also known internally as people experience and technology.
In a blog post to staff, Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, said the company was continuing a restructuring programme first outlined last autumn.
“As I shared in October, we’ve been working to strengthen our organisation by reducing layers, increasing ownership and removing bureaucracy,” she said.
US-based employees affected by the cuts will generally be given 90 days to seek alternative roles within the business, while the timing for staff in other countries will depend on local employment rules, Galetti added.
Amazon has previously linked job reductions to the growing use of artificial intelligence, describing the current wave of AI as the most transformative technology since the internet. However, Andy Jassy has downplayed the role of AI in the decision, telling analysts that the layoffs were primarily cultural rather than financial.
“You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers,” Jassy said during a recent earnings call.
The company dramatically expanded its workforce during the Covid-19 pandemic to cope with surging demand for online shopping and digital services. Amazon now employs around 1.58 million people globally, the vast majority of whom work in warehouses and fulfilment centres rather than corporate roles.
The current round of cuts is the largest in Amazon’s three-decade history, surpassing the 27,000 jobs eliminated in 2022. Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, who remains executive chairman and the company’s largest individual shareholder.
The announcement has drawn criticism from trade unions. Rachel Fagan, organiser at the GMB, said the decision would have serious consequences for workers and communities.
“Amazon is showing itself for what it is — a company that cannot be trusted to do the right thing by working people in the UK,” she said. “Thousands of job losses will cause huge damage in towns and cities across the country.
“Decision-makers must recognise Amazon as a business fixated on eye-watering profits at the expense of workers and local people.”
The latest layoffs underline the growing pressure on big tech companies to balance efficiency, automation and cost-cutting with mounting scrutiny over their impact on employment and local economies.
