Amazon makes offers of voluntary separation to some employees
BENGALURU: Ecommerce giant Amazon, which earlier announced layoffs from Devices and Services team, hints at more role reductions, and that it will be shared with employees early in 2023. The retail giant has also made a voluntary separation offer to eligible employees in India within the AET (Amazonian Experience & Technology) team.
The voluntary separation program (VSP) is available to Amazon L1 to L7 (senior-level employees) within the AET organisation. Amazon has given November 30, 2022, as the deadline to participate in the VSP. The VSP includes 22 weeks’ base pay, one-week base salary for every six months of service up to a maximum benefit of 20 weeks paid severance and medical insurance coverage for 6 months, among other benefits.
In a note shared with employees on November 18, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said, “We are in the middle of our annual operating planning review where we look at each of our businesses and make decisions about what we believe we should change.”
He added that the economy remains in a challenging spot and that they have hired rapidly over the last several years. Its annual planning process will extend into the new year, and there will be more role reductions. As per the note, those decisions will be shared with impacted staff and organisations early in 2023.
“We haven’t concluded yet how many other roles will be impacted (we know there will be reductions in our stores and PXT (people, experience, and technology) organisations, but each leader will communicate to their respective teams when we have the details nailed down,” the CEO added.
As per agency reports, Amazon will lay off about 10,000 staff globally. Kamal Karanth, the co-founder of staffing firm Xpheno, said it is intriguing to see a VSP with waiver of outstanding obligations on one end, but packed with consequences for non-enrolment on the other. “The near mandatory tone of the scheme shows the enterprise’s urgency to resize and reorganise. Not surprising, given the larger market context of enterprises that have triggered the layoffs,” he added.