Amazon is reportedly poised to implement its most substantial corporate workforce reduction since 2022, preparing to eliminate up to 30,000 corporate positions starting Tuesday, October 28. This move, as reported by Reuters, signals a significant recalibration within the e-commerce giant, affecting nearly 10% of its 350,000 corporate employees, though it represents only a fraction of its 1.55 million global workforce.

This impending layoff is a key component of Amazon's broader strategy to streamline operations and enhance cost-efficiency. The company experienced an aggressive expansion during the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by a surge in online demand that led to considerable over-hiring across various divisions. With economic headwinds persisting and consumer spending trends slowing, Amazon is shifting its focus from rapid growth to sustained profitability.

This is not Amazon's first major workforce adjustment in recent times. The company executed significant layoffs in late 2022 and into 2023, eliminating approximately 27,000 roles across its business units, which at the time constituted a high-single-digit percentage of its office jobs. Earlier reports from Fortune indicated preparations to cut as much as 15% of its human resources staff, internally known as the People eXperience Technology (PXT) team, with additional reductions anticipated in other core consumer business areas.

Amazon has maintained public silence regarding the planned layoffs, declining media requests for comment. However, Reuters reported that managers of affected teams underwent communication training on the Monday prior to the expected notifications, which are slated to begin via email on Tuesday morning.

Under the leadership of CEO Andy Jassy, who succeeded Jeff Bezos in 2021, Amazon has increasingly prioritized efficiency and cost-cutting measures. Jassy, who oversaw the company's largest layoffs in 2022-2023, has cultivated a reputation as an operational reformer. Managers are routinely tasked with meeting targets for 'unregretted attrition' (URA), a metric that accounts for staff departures through voluntary exits, managed separations, or layoffs. However, sources familiar with the internal workings suggest that the current wave of cuts is indicative of a more extensive restructuring effort, moving beyond routine performance-based trimming.

A significant factor in Amazon's future workforce strategy is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). CEO Andy Jassy has openly communicated his vision for an AI-powered era, urging employees to embrace this technological shift. In a company-wide email and corporate blog post in June, he stated, “Those who embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well-positioned to have high impact and help us reinvent the company.” Concurrently, Jassy also warned that extensive AI adoption across the company is expected to reduce the total corporate workforce by generating efficiency gains, ultimately reshaping Amazon's staffing needs for mundane, repetitive, and eventually more complex tasks.