US technology giant Amazon has confirmed it will cut 16,000 jobs - hours after it told staff about a new round of global redundancies in an email apparently sent in error. The email, which has been seen by the BBC, was sent late on Tuesday and refers to a swathe of employees in the US, Canada and Costa Rica having been laid off as part of an effort to 'strengthen the company.'
The message was apparently shared by mistake, as it was quickly cancelled. Early on Wednesday, Amazon announced job reductions as part of a plan to 'remove bureaucracy' at the firm.
Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, said on Wednesday it was not planning to make 'broad reductions every few months', referring to Amazon's announcement of 14,000 corporate job cuts in October. 'While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now,' she said.
Amazon employs around 1.5 million people globally, with around 350,000 in corporate roles. The company has not specified where the latest job losses will fall or which countries will be affected.
On Tuesday, a draft email written by Colleen Aubrey, a senior vice president at Amazon Web Services (AWS), was included in a calendar invitation sent by an executive assistant to a number of Amazon workers. The title of the invitation was 'Send project Dawn email,' an apparent reference to Amazon's code name for the job redundancies.
The lay-offs had been expected by Amazon employees for weeks, according to a former worker who asked not be identified. The broad understanding among staff had been that bosses intended to cut a total of around 30,000 roles, the former employee added, who left Amazon as part of a redundancy round in October.
Since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos stood down as its chief executive four years ago, his successor Andy Jassy has led the company through several rounds of cuts. Jassy has also attempted to bring a more strict work culture to the firm. In-office work is now mandatory five-days a week, making Amazon one of the only major tech companies to require its employees to be in the office full-time.
The message was apparently shared by mistake, as it was quickly cancelled. Early on Wednesday, Amazon announced job reductions as part of a plan to 'remove bureaucracy' at the firm.
Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, said on Wednesday it was not planning to make 'broad reductions every few months', referring to Amazon's announcement of 14,000 corporate job cuts in October. 'While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now,' she said.
Amazon employs around 1.5 million people globally, with around 350,000 in corporate roles. The company has not specified where the latest job losses will fall or which countries will be affected.
On Tuesday, a draft email written by Colleen Aubrey, a senior vice president at Amazon Web Services (AWS), was included in a calendar invitation sent by an executive assistant to a number of Amazon workers. The title of the invitation was 'Send project Dawn email,' an apparent reference to Amazon's code name for the job redundancies.
The lay-offs had been expected by Amazon employees for weeks, according to a former worker who asked not be identified. The broad understanding among staff had been that bosses intended to cut a total of around 30,000 roles, the former employee added, who left Amazon as part of a redundancy round in October.
Since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos stood down as its chief executive four years ago, his successor Andy Jassy has led the company through several rounds of cuts. Jassy has also attempted to bring a more strict work culture to the firm. In-office work is now mandatory five-days a week, making Amazon one of the only major tech companies to require its employees to be in the office full-time.
