Amazon to lay off 'small' number of people in Seattle

E-commerce giant says it will try to relocate impacted workers to other areas
2/13/2018

After a ramp-up of hiring last year, Amazon says it will cut a "small" number of positions at its Seattle headquarters.

The company did not give an exact number, but The Seattle Times, citing a person familiar with the cuts, says they affect a few hundred people. That would be a small percentage of the 40,000 people Amazon employs at its headquarters, and an even smaller proportion of its 566,000 employees worldwide.

READ: Toronto the only Canadian city in the running for Amazon’s second headquarters

In a statement, Amazon.com Inc. says it is still hiring aggressively in some areas and will consider those affected for other roles.

Amazon's headcount grew rapidly last year, up 66% from 2016. Some was because of its acquisition of Whole Foods and its 89,000 jobs, but Amazon also says it hired 130,000 people last year.

In other recent news, Amazon's Whole Foods reportedly brought in a new inventory-management system that's causing unrest among Whole Foods employees and “crushing morale,” according to Business Insider. In addition to possibly leading to food shortages across stores, the new system involves a rating and quizzing system that can lead to staff firings when employees’ scores rank at 89.9% or below.

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