Amazon Begins Historic Layoffs, Cutting 30,000 Corporate Jobs Amid Major AI Push

Amazon has begun notifying employees of its largest round of corporate layoffs to date, with up to 30,000 workers set to lose their jobs this week, according to internal documents and multiple reports reviewed by Reuters.

The cuts — amounting to nearly 10% of Amazon’s 350,000 corporate workforce — began Tuesday morning via email, following an urgent round of management training held just hours earlier on Monday. Managers were briefed on how to communicate the terminations, signaling the start of one of the most sweeping restructuring efforts in the company’s history.

The layoffs affect several key divisions, including Human Resources (internally known as People Experience and Technology or PXT), Operations, Devices and Services, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), according to sources familiar with the matter.

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HR Division Hit Hardest as Company Bets Big on AI

Reports suggest Amazon’s HR division faces the deepest cuts, with up to 15% of its global workforce — thousands of employees — expected to be laid off. The move comes as CEO Andy Jassy continues an aggressive cost-cutting campaign, while simultaneously steering Amazon toward a massive $100 billion investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure this year.

According to Fortune, the scale of these layoffs marks the largest single job reduction across the tech industry since 2020, surpassing even the pandemic-era cuts seen at other major firms.

This round follows previous layoffs totaling 27,000 jobs between late 2022 and 2023, but the current figure represents a significant escalation.

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Return-to-Office Push Backfires

Internal messages obtained by Business Insider indicate that employees in the U.S., U.K., and Canada are among those affected. A draft severance email reviewed by reporters promised 90 days of full pay and benefits for impacted staff.

Amazon’s leadership had hoped its strict five-day return-to-office (RTO) policy would prompt voluntary resignations, easing workforce pressure. However, the policy failed to produce sufficient attrition, according to two Reuters sources — forcing the company to pursue more direct cuts.

Jassy’s “efficiency initiative” also includes flattening management hierarchies and eliminating redundant roles. An internal anonymous complaint system introduced earlier this year received more than 1,500 responses, reflecting growing unease among staff.

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Seasonal Hiring Continues Despite Corporate Reductions

Despite the sweeping layoffs, Amazon is simultaneously preparing to hire 250,000 seasonal warehouse workers ahead of the holiday season — highlighting the company’s shifting focus toward automation and retail operations even as it trims white-collar staff.

The restructuring underscores Amazon’s evolving identity: a logistics and cloud powerhouse racing to lead the global AI revolution, while balancing cost pressures and employee morale.