After layoffs, Amazon to slash stock awards for remaining employees

A pall of gloom has descended over the global tech sector with lakhs laid off and those with a job left anxious about further job cuts. Citing cost cutting measures, Amazon has so far fired the largest amount of people after initiating a second round of layoffs.

But those who managed to keep their job with the e-commerce giant, may have to make do with lesser stock awards in the face of adverse economic conditions.

Cutting perks to save costs

• The restricted stock units, which are a part of Amazon's compensation package, will be cut down by a small amount, after the firm tried selling empty office spaces among other measures to reduce costs.

• The firm has also called its employees back to office, and even highlighted the benefits of working on site in a communication this year.

• Apart from layoffs, Amazon has also announced a hiring freeze and has denied claims that it has affected sustainability work at AWS.

Struggling with layoffs

• For the October to December quarter of 2022, Amazon's e-commerce sales were down 2 per cent, even though its overall revenue surged by 9 per cent.

• On the other hand, Amazon and Google are finding it difficult to lay off people in Europe, due to French and German labour laws.

• Employees at Google's London and Zurich offices have also staged walkouts in protest against layoffs.