Amazon, a leading e-commerce giant, recently announced the layoffs of 18,000 employees due to the pandemic. This news has sent shockwaves among Amazon’s workers and the business world alike.
The company said the job cuts are made with a heavy heart, as it had added more than 400,000 people to its workforce during the pandemic. Many new roles were created due to the massive surge in customer demand for the products and services during the lockdown.
Chief executive Jeff Bezos noted that the job losses were inevitable due to the fact that customer demand has “normalized” and some of the roles created to meet that demand were no longer necessary. He assured employees that Amazon will offer them financial assistance and career advice and that it is actively looking for alternative job opportunities inside and outside of the company.
Industry observers believe that these job cuts could have a ripple effect on the US economy at large. While Amazon will still retain around one million workers, these reductions could adversely affect the livelihoods of thousands of workers.
Bezos acknowledged the difficult economy as well as the human costs of the pandemic and wrote in a letter to workers, “This is not an easy decision. We will support each affected individual with our full responsibility, dignity and care”.
While the pandemic has affected businesses of all sizes, these layoffs come as a reminder to those in the corporate world of the importance of planning ahead in an uncertain environment. With many other businesses expected to suffer similar fates, the importance of contingency planning has never been higher.
