Harshit Singh
- In the US, Amazon runs 44 Amazon Fresh locations.
- Numerous employees at Fresh outlets will be laid off by Amazon.
- Nearly 27,000 Amazon employees have also been let go as of 2023.
Employees at Amazon Fresh grocery outlets in the US are being impacted by a new round of layoffs at the company. According to the Washington Post, a venerable American newspaper now owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the e-commerce behemoth is letting go of “hundreds” of employees as part of a restructuring strategy amid a sluggish economy. The employees being let go are primarily junior level employees. Despite Amazon’s efforts to update its grocery stores with “Just Walk Out” technology, which essentially eliminates the cashier’s desks in order to increase online payments, the layoffs still occur. This occurs just days after Amazon’s Amazon Pharmacy business cut workers.
According to the article, Amazon runs 44 Amazon Fresh locations across the US, and the most recent round had an impact on “zone leads.” Zone leads primarily manage customer service, grocery stockpiles, and Just Walk Out technology. According to the company’s job description for zone leads, staff are also expected to manage inventory, stock shelves, and train new hires.
According to the report, affected employees have the option of accepting a severance payment or applying for other roles at Amazon. According to the story, which quotes a former employee, the corporation is providing 60 days of severance pay.
Jessica Martin, a spokesman for Amazon, told the publication that the company was still working to assure long-term growth in response to the most recent round of layoffs. This entails reassessing Amazon Fresh’s efficiency. “As a result, we’ve chosen to evolve our in-store staffing and operations model to better serve our customers and teams,” Martin continued in a statement. We are still devoted to our grocery company, and we are actively assisting the affected staff in locating new shifts or positions at Amazon.
In 2007, Amazon Fresh was initially introduced as a delivery-only brand. Since then, it has changed. For nearly $13 billion, the business bought retail chain Whole Foods in 2017. Amazon updated its chain of supermarkets in the last five years with the newest technology and food bargains. According to a CNBC article from 2022, Amazon also acquired a number of dark businesses to enhance its online delivery capabilities. Even more, Amazon limited the use of other plastics in these locations and outlawed the use of plastic straws.
However, from early 2022, operating these superstores has been difficult due to the weak macroeconomic climate. Nearly 27,000 Amazon employees have also been let go as of 2023. Employees in the cloud, hardware, and human resources sectors will be laid off. The business is still evaluating divisions, though. As previously noted, Amazon fired some employees earlier this month from its pharmaceutical section.
