Amazon HR exec hints laid off workers may be eligible for rehire
by | Jul 28, 2023 | Uncategorized
An Amazon executive has suggested that some workers cut in recent layoffs could eventually be rehired, even as the company undertakes its steepest ever job cuts.
Ian Wilson, a human resources VP at Amazon Web Services, made th
Earlier this year, Amazon announced it would eliminate more than 18,000 roles, roughly 6% of its 300,000 corporate employees, as part of a workforce reduction it previously disclosed.
‘I do believe that one of the best things developmentally for any of us, including the individuals on our team that were impacted by the role reductions, is the experience and the time they’ve had at Amazon,’ said Wilson.
‘One thing we’ve been really clear about, so many of those folks are eligible for rehire, and I think as things turn that’s something I’m really looking forward to – to make sure how do we leverage those contacts?’ he added.
Ian Wilson, a human resourceshuman resources VP at Amazon Web Services, suggested the company may look to rehire laid off workers when the company returns to growth mode
Earlier this year, Amazon announced it would eliminate more than 18,000 roles, roughly 6% of its 300,000 corporate employees, as part of a workforce reduction it previously disclosed
‘How do we really proactively extend an invitation to any of those Amazonians that are ready to return and resume their career with us? How do we make those opportunities available?’ said Wilson.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed Wilson’s remarks to DailyMail.com, but noted they were part of a broader answer in response to an AWS employee’s question about the possibility of retraining employees instead of cutting jobs.
‘You know, on the reskilling piece, it’s been top of mind throughout so much of this,’ said Wilson, according to a transcript of the remarks.
‘And I think one of the things that’s unusual right now is that because we’ve slowed on hiring across the entire company, there’s just not tactically a lot of opportunities to rehome or reskill or redeploy individuals into.’
Amazon has more than 1.5 million workers including warehouse staff, making it America’s second-largest private employer after Walmart.
Amazon began letting staff go in November from its devices division, with a source telling Reuters at the time it was targeting around 10,000 cuts.
The job cuts expanded earlier this year to about 18,000 total planned layoffs, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said in a public staff note in January.
Chief Executive Andy Jassy has said that Amazon’s planned layoffs total roughly 18,000
Amazon has announced layoffs totaling 18,000 jobs since last year. Pictured: Ten tech companies with most lay-offs since March 2020
Amazon has paused construction on its second headquarters near Washington DC, as the internet retail giant slashes costs. The Helix (above) is one of the planned buildings on hold
It followed large layoffs across the tech sector, as companies that boomed during the pandemic scaled back in preparation for slower growth amid rising interest rates and persistent inflation.
Meta announced job cuts of 11,000 last fall, and was reportedly moving to cut thousands of more jobs as soon as this week.
Other tech companies, including Google-parent Alphabet and Microsoft, have also cut thousands of jobs.
Last week, Amazon made further moves to constrain spending by saying it had paused construction on its second headquarters near Washington DC.
The indefinite pause affects the second phase of construction on the massive complex, known as HQ2, that Amazon is constructing in Arlington, , the company said
