As part of its ongoing round of layoffs, Amazon will terminate more than 18,000 employees. as announced by CEO Andy Jassy on January 5. And now, Indian employees of the tech giant have started speaking up on the current layoffs, whether they themselves have been terminated or not.
‘First, I lost my father…’
Omprakash Sharma, a software engineer who was working for Amazon from its Gurugram office, described 2022 as the ‘most challenging year of my life.’ In a LinkedIn post, Sharma, who was impacted on January 11, said this came after he lost his father, due to which he was off work for almost four months.
He, however, described his five years with the company as the ‘most wonderful time of my job life.’ Those in the same boat should stay positive and motivated, Sharma added.
‘They are firing people in cabins…’
A second person, who was not impacted, narrated what was going on within his team, of which, he said, 75% has been let go. The person took to Grapevine, a community app for Indian professionals on which users stay anonymous, to share the experience.
The person said there was no motivation left in work, adding that they (Amazon) are ‘firing people in cabins.’
“People are crying in the office. Yesterday I went to the office it was very bad…I was awake the whole night and will take sick leave today. It was pip-azon before now it is something worse,” the post, shared by Grapevine on January 13, read.
Amazon January 2023 layoffs
In his message to global staff, Jassy mentioned most role eliminations will take place in the Amazon Stores and PXT organisations. He also remarked how ‘grateful’ he was to those impacted by these job reductions.