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In an internal memo, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced significant changes to the company's organizational structure. He highlighted a key plan to reduce management positions by 15% by the end of the first quarter of 2025. According to Jassy, if it cuts its number of managers by this percentage, it can remove bureaucratic barriers speeding up the processes.
This would also empower the ground-level employees as they will be charged with more responsibilities in the company's operations. This move is coming from a want of a more efficient and agile workforce. The memo does not state exactly how many workers will be let go, but any cut of the manager ranks is ominous.
It is the latest word from the retail leader as it had already let go of 27,000 workers in a large layoff in 2023, the company had experienced its largest workforce reduction in years. Amazon will also move away from its hybrid work policy. Corporate employees will be required to go into the office five days a week, from January 2, 2025.
Employees are only meant to spend three days a week in the office. However, employees in the tech industry have been continuously speaking out regarding the imbalance that a fully in-office environment can cause. These factors and return-to-office may be a point of worry for Amazon's workers worldwide since the focus of the company lies in efficient competence and cost-cutting.
However, within Jassy's memo, these steps were picturized as necessary conditions for keeping Amazon afloat in a more demanding market. The People Experience and Technology (PxT) team will collaborate closely with the leadership to direct such change. However, specific information on which departments or regions would be more affected is very vague in this memo.
AI and automation are on the rise, there's uncertainty in the economy, and cost-cutting measures these led to the 2024 wave of tech layoffs. Companies are restructuring, cutting the pounds, being profitable, and reshaping what their workforces look like. On one hand, there is job loss, on the other hand, roles in new areas such as emerging cybersecurity, quantum computing, and AI ethics are sprouting.
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