When Amazon announced that it would lay off 18,000 employees worldwide, including nearly 1,000 in India, reports surfaced that some of the affected employees broke down and stood “in the office crying” when they heard they had been asked to leave. were.
On Grapevine, a community app for Indian professionals, an Amazon India employee posted sad scenes in the offices, including people crying after the layoffs announcement.
“About 75 percent of my team is gone. Even though I’m in the bottom 25 percent, I no longer feel motivated to work. They’re firing people at the cabins. People are crying in the office,” the employee posted.
IANS was unable to independently verify the Grapevine user who was affected in the Amazon layoffs.
Corporate Chat India also posted the user’s screenshot, saying “Atmosphere at Amazon India as layoffs take place.”
The layoffs affected both new and experienced employees at Amazon India offices in Bangalore, Gurugram and elsewhere.
The company has primarily closed deals that are in the early stages of development.
Last week, the Pune Office of the Labor Commission sent a call to Amazon regarding mass layoffs and voluntary separation policy.
The letter to the IT employees union called for a joint discussion on January 17 about the alleged dismissals by the company in India.
“The livelihood of thousands of employees and their families has now become vulnerable. In accordance with the procedures set out in the Labor Disputes Law, the employer cannot, without the prior permission of the relevant government, fire an employee listed on the establishment lists, Harpreet Singh Saluja, president of the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senator (NITES) union, had said in a statement.
In November of last year, Amazon issued a voluntary separation policy offer to its employees.
In the same month, Amazon India was summoned by the Union Ministry of Labor to appear before the Deputy Chief Commissioner of Labor in Bangalore in connection with the company’s alleged redundancies.
“Therefore, you (Amazon) are requested to appear at this office with all relevant records in the matter, either in person or through an authorized representative, on the aforementioned date and time without fail,” it reads. in the notice of the Ministry.
The development follows a complaint filed by the NITES employee union, accusing Amazon of violating labor laws.
In a letter to Union Labor Minister Bhupender Yadav, NITES claimed that Amazon employees were forcibly removed from the company.
Earlier this month, Amazon confirmed that it will lay off around 18,000 employees and several teams will be affected, especially Amazon stores along with People, Experience and Technology (PXT) organizations.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement that they were not done with the annual planning process as mentioned above and that he “expected further feature reductions in early 2023.”
