DH Exclusive | Amazon India staff get voluntary separation offer

Amazon made a voluntary separation offer to some of its India employees on Wednesday, according to a company memo obtained by DH.

The voluntary separation programme (VSP) for India employees includes a lump sum severance payment equivalent to 22 weeks base pay, one-week base salary for every six months of service (up to a maximum benefit of 20 weeks paid severance), medical insurance coverage for six months and a notice period or pay in lieu, as per their employment contract terms.

The offer will also include “forgiveness of any outstanding obligations for signing bonus or relocation expenses”, according to the memo.

Read | Amazon plans to lay off 10,000 people starting this week

The tech giant has decided to lay off about 10,000 people across the globe in corporate and technology, in what would be the largest job cuts in its history, the New York Times reported earlier this week, quoting sources. It has seen a slowdown in growth this year as many people returned to their old shopping habits after the worst of the pandemic. It has also warned that growth would be weak, possibly falling to its lowest level since 2001, according to the NYT.

Tech companies have been laying off thousands of employees in recent weeks or freezing hiring amid a drop in digital ad revenues and global economic uncertainty. Microsoft, Meta, Twitter and Snap Inc have cut jobs, while Apple and Alphabet have all slowed or paused hiring.

“Coming out of the pandemic, there are several macroeconomic pressures happening in the world, and we are faced with some very hard decisions as we plan for 2023,” Amazon said in the memo sent on Wednesday.

“We paused on new incremental hires in our corporate workforce, and some teams are making adjustments, which in some cases means certain roles are no longer necessary,” it said.

“Within PXT (People eXperience and Technology), the slowdown in hiring and the unusual environment have impacted our AET organisation (Amazonian Experience & Technology team) in particular, and we need to take steps to more closely align with our business needs. As a first step, we are giving employees an opportunity to volunteer for the severance programme,” the company said.

Amazon employs roughly 1,00,000 workers in India, but DH was unable to independently verify the exact number of people in the AET team. Amazon did not respond to DH’s multiple requests seeking further comment.

The voluntary separation programme has been offered to Amazon employees starting from L1 (entry-level) to L7 (senior level) in its AET organisation.

The option for the voluntary separation programme is available to Amazon employees reporting into “our AET organisation in India and the US”, the company said in the memo dated November 16.

Amazon said the decision to opt for this offer was entirely up to the employees, who have until 6.30 am on November 30 to elect to participate and until 6.30 am on December 6 to withdraw their application. The last date of employment for approved “applicants” will be December 23, 2022.

The memo also included a set of frequently asked questions.

“Does my eligibility for the VSP mean that my job is in jeopardy? Is the company planning to initiate a layoff/reduction in force?” was one of the FAQs.

“Although no final decisions have been made at this time, following the VSP it is possible we may need to engage in future optimisations to align the workforce with business needs,” the company said in the memo.