Amazon Announces Job Cuts in Ireland as Global Layoffs Continue: Amazon has notified the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment of plans to reduce staff numbers at its Irish operations, as the technology giant presses ahead with a major global cost-cutting drive.
In a statement, the department confirmed it had received formal notice of proposed collective redundancies from Amazon Ireland. Under Irish law, companies intending to make more than 30 redundancies are required to inform the Government in advance.
Amazon employs more than 6,000 people in Ireland, and it is understood that between 300 and 325 roles could be affected in the latest round of cuts.
The proposed redundancies form part of a broader restructuring at the company, which recently announced plans to eliminate around 16,000 corporate jobs worldwide. The move is aimed at reducing management layers and streamlining decision-making as competition intensifies, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence.
In a blog post published on Wednesday, Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice-president of people, experience and technology, said the company was focused on simplifying its organisation. “We’ve been working to strengthen our organisation by reducing layers, increasing ownership and removing bureaucracy,” she said. US-based employees impacted by the changes will be given 90 days to seek alternative roles within the company, along with severance and transition support.
This marks the second major wave of job losses at Amazon in recent months. Last October, the company cut approximately 14,000 corporate roles, including significant reductions within its video games division. At the time, Amazon indicated that further cuts were likely as it continued efforts to reshape its workforce.
The latest reductions echo the large-scale layoffs carried out in late 2022 and early 2023, when around 27,000 jobs were eliminated.
Chief executive Andy Jassy has repeatedly said the company needs to address layers of management added during a pandemic-era hiring surge. He has also warned staff that advances in artificial intelligence would reduce the need for certain roles as automation expands across Amazon’s operations.
As of September 30th, Amazon employed approximately 1.57 million people globally, the majority working in warehouses. Its corporate workforce numbers about 350,000, meaning the current round of cuts represents roughly 4.6 per cent of that group.
Separately, confusion arose earlier this week after an internal meeting invite titled “Project Dawn” was sent to employees prematurely and later cancelled. The email, which circulated widely on internal forums and social media, referred to notifications sent to “impacted colleagues” in the US, Canada and Costa Rica. Amazon has not commented on the incident.
— Additional reporting by Bloomberg
