Amazon announced that it is laying off over 16,000 employees across the globe, in its recent round of job cuts. This comes after it laid off over 14,000 jobs just a few months ago. Few employees have now
come out speaking about their layoffs, claiming that they weren't shown the door due to inefficiencies. One of them blames artificial intelligence, while the other blames a high take-home salary.
Diana L.'s Story - 'AI took my job'
Diana, a long-serving Amazon employee with nearly 11 years at the company, revealed her layoff in a candid LinkedIn post. She described being made redundant for the second time, noting that the workflows she had optimised were ultimately automated by AI. "I got laid off for the second time at Amazon," she wrote, emphasising how her efforts to streamline operations led to her role's obsolescence. Diana's account underscores the irony faced by many - contributing to efficiency only to be displaced by technological advancements.
Nick Plumb's Story - High salary and expertise is now a liability
On X, Nick Lee Plumb, a former Level 7 (L7) manager who led global AI enablement at Amazon, detailed his abrupt layoff after eight years of service. In a detailed thread, Plumb clarified that his dismissal was not due to performance or AI directly but rather because experience and high compensation have become liabilities in the current market. "I built systems executives depended on, moved wherever the company needed me and fixed problems that had been sitting untouched," he stated, adding that AI often serves as an excuse for broader labour arbitrage and cost-cutting. Plumb, now running for Congress in Texas, views his experience as emblematic of systemic issues in tech employment.
Plumb also shared another colleagues story, who spent 28 years at Amazon. She was the '25th most tenured employee in a company of millions'. This pattern shows that Amazon has been laying off high-value employees to replace them with lower waged ones.
Meanwhile, the company has framed the cuts as necessary, to eradicate operational inefficiencies. It is offering affected US-based employees 90 days to seek internal roles, followed by severance and support if unsuccessful.
In India, over 600 to 700 employees were reportedly affected by the Amazon layoffs from offices in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
