Hundreds of employees discovered last Tuesday that they had lost their jobs—through text messages and emails rather than in-person meetings or formal calls. The layoffs, part of Amazon’s broader effort to streamline operations and focus on automation and artificial intelligence, have once again drawn attention to the emotional toll of large-scale corporate downsizing and the company’s evolving workforce strategy. The news first reached employees early in the morning when many received two consecutive text alerts from Amazon. The first message instructed them to “check their email before coming to work,” while a second message followed, urging those who had not received any communication about their role to contact the company’s help desk. According to insiders familiar with the matter, the texts were deliberately timed to follow official email notifications, ensuring that affected employees would not show up at offices only to find their access badges deactivated. Later that day, a formal email signed by Beth Galetti, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology, confirmed the layoffs and explained the next steps. The message, which was both direct and empathetic in tone, informed workers that their positions were being eliminated as part of a larger business decision to realign priorities.
“I have some important, but difficult, news to share with you,” Galetti wrote. “After a thorough review of our organisation, 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, and your employment will end after a non-working period.” In her letter, Galetti outlined that affected employees would continue to receive their full salary and benefits for a 90-day transition period, despite no longer being required to perform work on behalf of Amazon. “As of now, you are no longer required to perform work on Amazon’s behalf, and will receive your full pay and benefits (as applicable) for the next 90 days,” she said. During this period, employees would retain access to internal systems such as email, Chime, and A to Z via personal devices, allowing them to retrieve important information and communicate with internal support teams.
Beyond the notice period, Amazon has promised severance pay, career counselling, job placement assistance, and upskilling opportunities for those impacted. The company’s HR and People Experience departments have set up dedicated transition teams to help laid-off workers navigate their next steps. Galetti emphasized that while these were difficult choices, Amazon was committed to helping its employees find new opportunities. “We didn’t make these decisions lightly, and we’re committed to supporting you throughout this transition,” she added. The layoffs form part of Amazon’s ongoing corporate restructuring plan, which has already affected an estimated 14,000 employees across multiple departments, including cloud computing, devices, and human resources. The company’s CEO, Andy Jassy, has publicly stated that these cuts are necessary to streamline operations, eliminate redundant management layers, and focus resources on growth areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation, and cloud infrastructure. Over the past two years, Amazon has faced mounting pressure to optimize costs and improve efficiency after its rapid expansion during the pandemic years. As e-commerce growth slowed and inflation increased operational costs, the company began a series of strategic realignments aimed at ensuring long-term profitability. Jassy, who took over as CEO in 2021, has emphasized the importance of focusing on scalable technology investments that will shape Amazon’s future. “We’re committed to being leaner and more focused,” he stated in an earlier internal memo. The decision, while financially prudent from a corporate perspective, has left thousands of employees grappling with sudden unemployment and uncertainty about their futures. For many affected employees, the manner in which they were notified added to the shock. Several former workers described the experience as “impersonal” and “disheartening,” saying that learning about a job loss through text messages felt abrupt and detached. Others, however, acknowledged the company’s effort to handle the logistics efficiently and provide immediate clarity to those impacted.
Inside Amazon, the People Experience and Technology team has been at the center of managing the transition. The company’s 90-day non-working period is designed to give employees sufficient time to explore new roles either within Amazon or externally. Internal job postings remain open to laid-off employees during this period, allowing them to apply for open positions that match their skills. Industry analysts note that Amazon’s move reflects a broader trend in the tech sector, where major companies are aggressively restructuring to prioritize AI and automation. Firms like Google, Meta, and Microsoft have similarly implemented large-scale layoffs over the past year, focusing resources on next-generation technologies expected to define the future of digital ecosystems. While some see these layoffs as a necessary adjustment to shifting market realities, others view them as evidence of a changing corporate culture in Silicon Valley—one where human capital is increasingly subordinated to machine-driven productivity goals. Critics argue that companies like Amazon, which employ hundreds of thousands worldwide, must strike a better balance between efficiency and employee well-being. In response to growing scrutiny, Amazon executives have reiterated their commitment to helping affected employees transition successfully. The company has partnered with external career services and recruitment agencies to assist workers in identifying new roles both within and outside the tech sector. Training programs are also being offered to help former employees develop skills in high-demand fields such as AI engineering, data analytics, and cloud computing. Economists suggest that while these layoffs may temporarily unsettle the job market, they could also accelerate workforce transformation across the tech industry. By investing heavily in automation and artificial intelligence, Amazon aims to reduce dependency on manual processes and optimize decision-making through data-driven systems. However, such a shift inevitably requires fewer human roles in administrative and operational layers. Employee advocacy groups have urged Amazon to adopt a more transparent and humane approach in communicating workforce changes. They argue that sudden messages and impersonal emails can erode trust and affect morale among remaining staff. Amazon’s leadership, however, maintains that the company is taking steps to ensure that all affected employees are treated fairly and provided with adequate resources during their transition. Despite the scale of the cuts, Amazon continues to hire in specific growth areas. The company’s cloud division, Amazon Web Services (AWS), remains a major revenue driver, and recruitment for AI and machine learning specialists has reportedly increased. This dual movement—layoffs in certain departments and hiring in others—illustrates the company’s intent to restructure rather than reduce its overall workforce footprint in the long term. The layoffs also underscore a larger shift in corporate strategy as global firms adjust to economic uncertainty, high inflation, and changing consumer habits. For Amazon, this means tightening operational efficiency while positioning itself as a leader in AI-driven logistics and e-commerce innovation. While affected employees face immediate challenges, industry observers believe the company’s restructuring efforts could ultimately redefine how large tech companies approach workforce management in the AI era. Still, the human cost of such transitions remains significant, and for many former employees, the experience of being laid off through an automated text message will be hard to forget. Amazon’s decision to notify employees digitally rather than in person reflects the very technological transformation it seeks to champion—swift, efficient, and impersonal. As the company moves forward with its AI-driven future, questions remain about how it balances operational efficiency with empathy and corporate responsibility.
Amazon’s latest round of layoffs marks a turning point in its ongoing evolution toward a leaner, AI-focused organization. The company’s promises of severance, career support, and job placement assistance show an effort to cushion the impact of its restructuring decisions. However, the manner in which employees were informed—through texts and emails—has raised questions about the balance between efficiency and compassion in corporate communication. As Amazon pursues its vision of a technology-led future, its handling of human transitions will remain a defining measure of its corporate ethos in the years ahead.
