Amazon locked several laid-off employees from their offices and their company-issued laptops on Wednesday, about a week after the company began telling workers their positions were being cut.
Amazon notified laid-off employees from divisions working on Alexa's virtual assistant to gather their things, pack up company-issued laptops and prototypes, and download Amazon's email and messaging services on their personal devices by 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to an email seen by The Seattle Times.
Amazon began notifying employees they had lost their jobs last Tuesday, the first round in a series of layoffs that Amazon hopes will last through 2023 and affect about 10,000 jobs. Those numbers are in flux, as team leaders continue to make decisions, CEO Andy Jassy told employees last week.
It's still unclear how Amazon's layoffs will impact its Puget Sound headquarters, but the loss is part of a wave of layoffs sweeping the tech industry and the state. Washington's information sector lost 5,900 jobs in October, according to a report from the Department of Employment Security. With the latest layoff announcement, it will lose up to 18,000 tech or technology-related jobs for almost two months.
Amazon cut several divisions, including devices, books, human resources, and stores. The device group includes Amazon's voice assistant Alexa, its health device Halo and its home robot Astro, as well as Kindle, smart home products, and Echo speakers. Stores cover most of Amazon's consumer business, including online and physical stores, a marketplace for third-party sellers, and Prime.
Laid-off employees can still use personal devices to access company email, Amazon Chime's communications platform and its AtoZ app, which provides resources for pay, benefits, and internal job postings. That's important for laid-off workers because Amazon has given them 60 days to find new roles within the company. Laid-off workers will lose access to Slack, an instant messaging system. This article was written by EDUKASI CAMPUS.