By Deborah Nnamdi
Amazon has confirmed plans to lay off up to 30,000 corporate employees starting Tuesday, marking its largest round of job cuts since 2022. The move is part of a broader effort to reduce costs, streamline operations, and address overhiring that occurred during the pandemic-driven expansion.
According to a Reuters report citing sources familiar with the matter, the planned reduction represents about 10% of Amazon’s 350,000 corporate workforce, though it accounts for only a small fraction of the company’s global headcount of roughly 1.55 million employees.
The layoffs will affect several key divisions, including human resources—known internally as the People Experience and Technology (PXT) group—as well as operations, devices and services, and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy has framed the cuts as part of an effort to eliminate “excess bureaucracy” and simplify management structures. Over the past year, Jassy has introduced measures to streamline internal processes, including an anonymous employee feedback channel that has generated more than 1,500 suggestions and led to over 450 changes.
He has also acknowledged that artificial intelligence is transforming how work is done across Amazon. In June, Jassy suggested that AI integration would reduce the need for repetitive, manual tasks—a sentiment echoed by analysts who believe rising AI efficiency has made some roles redundant.
Managers overseeing affected teams were briefed on Monday, with email notifications to impacted employees expected to begin Tuesday morning. Reports indicate that the HR division could see the steepest reductions, with cuts of up to 15%.
Amazon has also tightened its return-to-office policy, now requiring employees to work onsite five days a week. Those who fail to comply, including remote workers living far from company offices, are being treated as having voluntarily resigned, allowing the company to avoid severance payouts.
The layoffs come amid a broader wave of job reductions across the global tech industry. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows that more than 98,000 tech workers have been laid off in 2025 alone, following 153,000 job losses last year.
Earlier this year, Meta Platforms also announced another round of cuts across Africa, Europe, and Asia, though workers in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands were spared due to local labor laws.
