At Least 500 Indians Lose Jobs at Amazon in Fresh Round of Firing

Amazon has fired at least 500 employees in India across different businesses and functions, according to a report in The Economic Times.

The fresh downsizing is part of layoffs announced by the company CEO Andy Jassy in March. As part of the restructuring process, certain functions for onboarding sellers have been discontinued in certain tier-2 cities like Kochi and Lucknow, a source told the daily.

In March, Amazon announced that it was laying off 9,000 employees. In a letter, CEO Andy Jassy explained the rationale behind the decision to eliminate workers and claimed that the decision "is best for the company long term".

"I have been in this role now for about a year and a half, and without a doubt, this is the most difficult decision we have made during that time (and, we have had to make some very tough calls over the past couple of years, particularly during the heart of the pandemic)," Jassy wrote in the memo.

Amazon, which employs more than 1.5 million (15 lakh) workers globally, primarily made up of hourly workers, announced in January that it was laying off 18,000 employees. So far, it has shown the door to at least 27,000 workers.

Many leading tech companies including Meta and Twitter have downsized their workforce due to the economic slowdown.

Meanwhile, a Bengaluru woman who lost her job in the fresh round of firing at Amazon, has shared her pain on her LinkedIn account after losing the job, Moneycontrol reported.

"I'm grieving the loss of my job, the relationships I built with my colleagues and the sense of purpose I felt in my work," the website quoted her as saying in the LinkedIn post.

She added, "I'm also angry at the situation, and I'm feeling uncertain about what the future holds." The woman was with the company for a year.