After a big hiring spree, it appears that Amazon is now cutting several hundred corporate employees from its Seattle headquarters and global operations, reports The Seattle Times. The company is cutting employees mostly from the consumer retail division. This is due to the company experiencing rapid growth in certain places while other departments are reportedly left over budget, and some teams getting overstaffed.
Amazon is the second largest US-based corporate employer, and the company has been on a big hiring spree in the last two years. At its Seattle headquarters, the company grew from 5,000 people to more than 40,000, which is a substantial change. It doesn’t come as a surprise that some departments have become overstaffed as Amazon continue to grow at a rapid pace.
The company has notified some employees that their roles have been redundant, and the layoffs are expect to be completed over the next few weeks. “As part of our annual planning process, we are making head count adjustments across the company — small reductions in a couple of places and aggressive hiring in many others,” a spokesman told The Seattle Times. Amazon has added that there would be opportunities for redeployment within the company for employees, should they be interested and qualify for those positions.
Sources have said that Amazon has an issue with overpopulation in the company. Some others have said workers being in “terrible shape” due to “so much stress on campus” due to cuts and pressure due to competition and taking out the weaker performers in the company. Amazon has been previously accused of enforcing intolerable conditions at its warehouses, which previously led to a stroke in Italy during Black Friday.
Despite cutting some employees, Amazon is currently scouting a new location for its second headquarters, where the company plans to add up to 50,000 jobs. The current job cuts come from Amazon’s subsidiaries including publishing arm Createspace and footwear Zappos.
