On Tuesday morning, a number of Amazon employees were confronted with devastating news in an unexpectedly impersonal way: they discovered they had lost their jobs through text messages delivered directly to their phones. According to individuals familiar with the situation, as well as screenshots obtained and reviewed by Business Insider, the company dispatched two separate messages in the early hours of the day. The first message advised affected workers to review both their personal and work email accounts prior to arriving at the office, suggesting that further explanation regarding their employment status awaited them there. The second message, serving as a contingency, instructed anyone who had not yet received the email to contact a dedicated help desk for clarification, specifically about the message concerning their professional role.
These text notifications, according to one person briefed on the company’s internal procedures, were issued almost simultaneously with formal email communications and were designed to mitigate a particularly unsettling situation—laid-off employees showing up at their workplace only to discover that their security badges had been deactivated. This precaution reflects a method increasingly employed in large-scale corporate downsizing efforts, where similar logistical complications have emerged during recent mass layoffs at companies such as Google and Tesla. By sending text messages in advance, Amazon appeared to be attempting to manage the process with efficiency and reduce the emotional distress and confusion that could arise from sudden access denial.
When reached for comment, an Amazon spokesperson did not respond to Business Insider’s inquiries. The individuals who provided details about the matter requested anonymity, emphasizing that they were not authorized to speak publicly or represent the company’s official stance. According to reports, Amazon’s action on Tuesday resulted in the elimination of approximately 14,000 positions. The company defended the decision as a strategic step to streamline operations, improve internal efficiency, and enable it to, in its words, “innovate much faster.” Many of the roles affected were based in the United States, particularly within the retail management division—a sector that has been repeatedly targeted in Amazon’s ongoing efforts to restructure and reduce costs.
In an internal message authored by Beth Galetti, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources, and subsequently shared on the company’s Slack platform, the HR chief assured laid-off employees that their pay and benefits would continue for a ninety-day period. Additionally, she confirmed that departing workers would receive a comprehensive severance package, reflecting the company’s acknowledgment of the disruption these layoffs cause to individual lives and careers.
In a separate blog post published the same day, Galetti offered further explanation regarding the rationale behind these job cuts. She attributed the decision in part to the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence, describing it as a powerful technological force that is fundamentally reshaping industries across the globe. Despite Amazon’s current financial health, she suggested that embracing these changes was essential for the organization’s future competitiveness. Galetti emphasized the speed of transformation, writing that the world is changing at an unprecedented pace. She characterized the latest generation of AI technologies as the most revolutionary advancement since the advent of the Internet, asserting that such innovations are enabling companies to accelerate their ability to create new products, optimize existing processes, and explore uncharted markets at incredible speed.
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Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-layoffs-employees-early-morning-text-messages-2025-10
