Amazon is reportedly planning to announce a new wave of job cuts affecting thousands of employees, as the global tech giant continues its aggressive drive to streamline operations and integrate artificial intelligence across its business.
Fresh Redundancies Follow Recent Major Cuts
According to reports from major financial news agencies Reuters and Bloomberg, Amazon's chief executive Andy Jassy is preparing to unveil further significant redundancies in the coming days. This speculation emerges a mere three months after the company revealed plans to eliminate approximately 14,000 corporate positions in a bid to reduce bureaucratic layers.
The scale of the impending cuts is suggested to be substantial, potentially matching the magnitude of the previous autumn's workforce reduction. Amazon has been approached for official comment regarding these latest reports.
Departments in the Firing Line
The anticipated job losses are expected to impact multiple divisions within the sprawling Amazon empire. Staff working in Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Prime Video streaming service, retail operations, and human resources departments are among those likely to be affected by the new round of layoffs.
This strategic move aligns with comments made by Mr Jassy last summer, where he indicated that Amazon's staff count was likely to decrease over the coming years. The driving force behind this trend is the company's increasing reliance on artificial intelligence to automate numerous tasks previously performed by human employees.
Long-Term Strategy for a Leaner Workforce
When announcing the previous major restructuring in October, Mr Jassy hinted that further cuts were probable, stating the company had identified "additional places we can remove layers" from its organisational structure. This points to a sustained, phased approach to workforce reduction rather than a one-off event.
As of the end of September last year, Amazon employed a vast global workforce of around 1.57 million individuals. Of this total, approximately 350,000 constituted the corporate workforce, with the majority of employees working across the company's extensive network of fulfilment centres and warehouses.
UK Operations and Fulfilment Centre Closure
In the United Kingdom, Amazon employs roughly 75,000 people across its various operations. The news of impending corporate job cuts follows the company's recent confirmation that it plans to close one of its UK fulfilment centres.
Amazon has initiated a consultation on a proposal to shut down its site in Milton Keynes, a historically significant location as it was the first Amazon fulfilment centre to open in the UK back in 1998. The closure would affect 590 employees, who are being offered the opportunity to transfer to other sites.
The company stated that a collective consultation process is now underway with the affected Milton Keynes staff. Workers will be given the option to transfer to Amazon's new £500 million fulfilment centre in Northampton, which is scheduled to open in May and will initially employ 1,400 people, eventually rising to 2,000 roles. Alternatively, employees can seek transfers to other existing Amazon sites across the country.
This combination of corporate layoffs and operational consolidation underscores Amazon's determined focus on enhancing efficiency and adapting its workforce for an increasingly automated future, even as it continues to invest in new physical infrastructure like the Northampton facility.
