'What if I'm next?' Fear grips Amazon India employees amid global layoffs

With Amazon undertaking a global layoff exercise to axe 10,000 employees – close on the heels of Twitter and Meta – the impact on India is still up for conjecture. But the mood at Amazon India is one of fear and uncertainty.

Sources in the know confirmed that the company has put hiring on the back burner and set aside all travel plans across business segments.

India, which has close to 100,000 employees, has around 10,000 permanent staff, informed sources.

Those in the know say the full force of the impact of global layoffs in India will be felt in the retail division. “Retail will bear the main brunt. The safest place is Cloud,” said a person, privy to the developments.

People aware of the development also said that the exercise will be completed by January -that time of the year when appraisals take place at Amazon.

“It wants to make sure there is stability in the headcount base before the appraisal season,” said another source. The person added that hiring is on hold, “even though there is a need for backfilling”.

An email sent to Amazon India did not elicit any response until the time of going to press.

Meanwhile, the news of the global layoffs started doing the rounds on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter.

“It is so heartbreaking to see my entire feed filled with news about Amazon layoffs. People have been laid off across Alexa, Luna, Robotics, Lab126, and more. There have been a lot of Indians who recently moved to Canada and other locations for working at Amazon. Do comment if you have openings for Canada region or India region for software roles at all levels,” said Arsh Goyal, who works with Samsung India.

Meanwhile, the hiring freeze has also impacted those who were in the last leg of their selection.

Take the case of Vikas M, who was selected for a role at Amazon London and had his final interview. “I received a mail from human resources (HR) about rescheduling my interview. Upon enquiry, the HR set up a 15-minute call to explain the situation. I was told about a hiring freeze for an indefinite period… Sometimes you need more luck than hard work to succeed. On the bright side, I will not be a part of the mass layoff,” he wrote on his LinkedIn profile.

Another person who got laid off was Raj Kansagra, a software developer engineer with Amazon for six years and worked on Alexa. “I found out that I’ve been laid off. I’m joining many others who are experiencing the feelings that come with losing your dream job. I was with Amazon for six years. We have seen Alexa grow from its early days and it’s been an incredible journey. I’m proud of what we built together.” He also wrote that he is on H1B visa - so time is of essence to find a new job.

Shivani Parate is another Amazon employee on H1B visa who lost her job. “I join 10,000 other laid-off Amazonians. It is super hard for all of us and I am still trying to navigate through this, while constrained by the timeline of being on H1B visa. I am nothing but grateful for the time I have spent at Amazon, learning and collaborating with some of the brightest folks in the business.”