16,000 redundancies: Amazon's restructuring focuses on efficiency and artificial intelligence

After weeks of speculation, Amazon has confirmed a large-scale downsizing plan affecting 16,000 office workers. The announcement brings the total number of job cuts since last October to around 30,000.

These job cuts were initiated by the company last October, when 14,000 employees were made redundant, as part of a restructuring that CEO Andy Jassy cannot rule out on continuing in the months ahead.

The CEO's rationalization strategy

The move is part of the CEO's strategy to simplify the company's structure, the main objectives of which include eliminating excessive bureaucracy and discontinuing activities that are not achieving desired results. Alongside the redundancies, Amazon has announced the permanent closure of its physical Fresh stores and Amazon Go stores (...). In addition, the company has decided to put an end to Amazon One, the biometric payment system based on palm recognition.

Management statements

Beth Galetti, Amazon's Senior Vice President of Collaborator Experiences and Technology, told employees that the main purpose of the layoffs was to strengthen the organization. In an internal message published on the company's blog, she explains that the aim is to "strengthen our organization by reducing hierarchical levels, increasing accountability and removing bureaucracy". At the same time, she leaves open the possibility of further measures, specifying that certain teams will continue to "make adjustments where necessary".

In a reassuring statement, she adds that the company will continue "to recruit and invest in strategic areas and functions that are crucial to our future". She concluded that "it's not in our plans" to announce "large-scale cuts every few months", although she stopped short of guaranteeing that this would be the last intervention affecting staff.

Sectors affected by the cuts

The redundancies affected many divisions of the company, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alexa, Prime Video, device development teams, advertising, last-mile logistics, Kindle and the supply chain optimization division. Despite the significant impact, the downsizing affects only a limited percentage of the overall workforce, given that Amazon employs 1.58 million people worldwide and the 30,000 redundancies represent around 10% of the company's office workforce of around 350,000.

Artificial intelligence and the future of work

The restructuring reflects a broader trend in the technology sector, where the adoption of artificial intelligence is profoundly reshaping employment dynamics. Andy Jassy himself had explicitly stated that "in the coming years, we expect to reduce our overall office workforce as we gain efficiencies from the intensive use of AI across the enterprise". "As with any technological transformation, there will be fewer people performing some of the tasks that technology is really starting to automate."

(©GreenMe.it/Translation and adaptation: The Global Money/Pic: Unsplash)