Amazon fires staff via text message; 14,000 laid off overall

Amazon has fired a large number of employees via text messages. The development took place on Tuesday (October 28) when the e-commerce giant eliminated 14,000 jobs, citing its bid to streamline operations and increase the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in company operations.

‘Check email before you come to office’

Two text messages were sent by Amazon to the affected employees informing them that they had been laid off, reported the Business Insider. The report, citing screenshots of the text messages, further stated that in one of the messages the affected employees were asked to check their personal or company email before coming to office.

Also Read: Amazon begins to slash 30,000 corporate jobs in largest layoff since 2022: Report

The second message directed them to contact a help desk if they had not received "an email message about your role." The messages, sent shortly after email notifications were aimed at preventing the laid off employees from coming to office and finding out that their company badges no longer worked, stated the report citing a company official familiar with the matter.

The report further stated that an Amazon spokesperson did not respond to a request for comments.

Will receive full pay for 90 days

Explaining its decision to eliminate 14,000 jobs, Amazon on Tuesday said that it was a part of its effort to "innovate much faster." A large section of the affected employees in the US were retail managers.

Also Read: Amazon plans to replace 160,000 US jobs with robots by 2027: Report

According to media reports, Amazon HR chief Beth Galetti, in a message to the affected employees, informed them that they continue to receive full pay and benefits for 90 days and will also get a severance package.

Increasing AI use behind lay offs

Galetti, in a blog post, further stated, rapid advances in use of AI technologies were the reason behind the layoffs adding that Amazon was making changes despite the company’s strong performance.

Also Read: Amazon plans major layoffs; 15 per cent of HR employees to be hit

"What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we've seen since the Internet, and it's enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before (in existing market segments and altogether new ones),” stated Galetti.

The backdrop

Earlier, Amazon reportedly announced plans to eliminate about 30,000 corporate positions, roughly 10 per cent of its 350,000 corporate workforce, which would mark its largest round of layoffs since 2022.

The cuts, reportedly targeting divisions such as People Experience & Technology (PXT), operations, devices and services, and AWS, are part of a push led by CEO Andy Jassy to address pandemic-era over-hiring, streamline bureaucracy and accelerate automation via AI.