Amazon Sends Layoffs Email, 16,000 Jobs Cut Across US, UK And India: ‘Your Role Is Being Eliminated’ Email

Amazon has begun informing employees about a fresh round of corporate layoffs, marking another major workforce reduction by the company. The latest job cuts have impacted employees across the United States, the United Kingdom and India, as the company reassesses its priorities and future focus areas.

Around 16,000 roles have been eliminated nationwide as part of this round. Affected employees received emails formally notifying them about the decision and outlining the support measures available during the transition period.

Layoffs announced following internal review

Employees were informed through an email sent by Amazon leadership that their roles were being eliminated after a detailed internal assessment. The message was sent by senior vice president of people experience and technology Beth Galetti.

The email opened with the line, "I have some important, but difficult, news to share with you," and explained that the decision followed a "thorough review of our organization, our priorities, and what we need to focus on going forward." Employees were told that their employment would end after a notification period as part of these changes.

Pay, benefits and transition support for affected staff

Amazon confirmed that impacted employees will receive full pay and benefits for 90 days during a non-working transition period. Along with this, the company is offering a severance package and additional transitional benefits.

Support measures also include external job placement assistance and up to 12 months of complimentary access to AWS Skill Builder to help employees with reskilling and future opportunities. While employees' badge access to offices has been restricted immediately, they will continue to have access to internal tools such as email, Chime and A to Z on their personal devices during the transition.

Full email sent to impacted employees

"I have some important, but difficult, news to share with you. After a thorough review of our organization, our priorities, and what we need to focus on going forward, we've made the hard business decision to eliminate some roles across Amazon. Unfortunately, your role is being eliminated as part of these changes and your employment will end after a notification period.

These decisions weren't made lightly, and we recognize the significant impact they have. We're committed to supporting you through this transition with:

A non-working period with your full pay and benefits
A severance package offer and transitional benefits
External job placement support and 12 months of complimentary access to AWS Skill Builder

As of now, you are no longer required to perform work on Amazon's behalf and will continue to receive your full pay and benefits for the next 90 days.

You likely have questions, and we're here to answer them. You'll soon receive an invitation to schedule a conversation with a leader and/or HR point of contact from your team to discuss the specifics of your transition and how we can best support you.

Additionally, you'll receive a separate email from Amazon - Enterprise Document Management ([email protected]
) with your formal announcement paperwork by the end of the day today. Please note that your badge access has been restricted; so, if you're currently in an Amazon office, Security can assist you with exiting the building.

During your non-working transition period, you'll continue to have access to internal email, Chime, and A to Z on your personal device, and our primary mode of communication with you will be through email. Please keep your YubiKey to access email on a personal laptop/computer.

We encourage you to take time now to confirm that you have access to these tools on your personal device and that your personal email address is up to date in A to Z.

We appreciate that this is a difficult update to receive and have shared answers to some of the most common questions related to your pay, benefits, support resources, and next steps below. Remember that caring team members are ready to assist you 24/7 through MyHR or the Employee Assistance Portal (EAP), offering free and confidential support, both available within A to Z.

I'm personally committed to making sure you get the help you need as you navigate this change. Please just reply to this email if you run into any trouble at all getting what you need-whether that's connectivity issues, questions about next steps, or any other concerns.

Thank you,
Beth Galetti
SVP, People Experience & Technology"

Teams and divisions impacted by job cuts

Internal Slack messages reviewed by Business Insider indicate that the layoffs span several major divisions. Amazon Web Services units have been affected, including Bedrock, Redshift and ProServe consulting teams. Retail operations have also seen cuts, with Prime subscription services and the last-mile Delivery Experience team among those impacted.