Amazon will pause corporate hiring for months

By Catherine Thorbecke, CNN Business

Amazon is pressing pause on corporate hiring and expects to keep the policy in place for months, in the latest sign that even the biggest tech companies are rethinking staffing in an uncertain economic climate.

The e-commerce giant has decided to implement a “pause on new incremental hires in our corporate workforce,” Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, said in a memo to employees this week. The letter was shared on Amazon’s website on Thursday.

“We had already done so in a few of our businesses in recent weeks and have added our other businesses to this approach,” Galetti wrote. “We anticipate keeping this pause in place for the next few months, and will continue to monitor what we’re seeing in the economy and the business to adjust as we think makes sense.”

Amazon will continue to hire backfills for some employees who leave for new opportunities, she said, “and there are some targeted places where we will continue to hire people incrementally.”

Amazon saw its business boom during the pandemic, as more customers turned to online shopping. But as pandemic restrictions eased, however, Amazon has had to confront the dual challenges of more people returning to in-person shopping and a souring economic outlook weighing on consumers’ demand.

Late last week, Amazon forecast its revenue for the holiday quarter would be lighter than analysts had expected, causing its stock to fall sharply. Shares of Amazon are down more than 45% this year.

In recent months, tech companies including Google-parent Alphabet, Facebook-parent Meta, Twitter and more have also announced plans to slow hiring and cut costs amid the economic uncertainty.

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