Following a year marred by people losing their jobs, Amazon is looking at even more layoffs across its healthcare division. Amazon currently owns two healthcare companies; Amazon Pharmacy and One Medical. According to the memo circulated amongst employees, both of these companies will be seeing layoffs. This means despite layoffs in its healthcare division last year, Amazon still isn’t satisfied with its resource allocation.
Amazon healthcare layoffs announced in a memo
The news came in the form of an employee memo sent by Neil Lindsay, senior vice president at Amazon Health Services. Much like many recent memos that announced layoffs, the contents mentioned a desire for the company to allocate resources more efficiently. It also mentioned striving for better “invention”.
“As we continue to make it easier for people to get and stay healthy, we have identified areas where we can reposition resources so we can invest in invention and experiences that have a direct impact on our customers and members of all ages. Unfortunately, these changes will result in the elimination of a few hundred roles across One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy.”
Amazon has already pulled a similar move in 2023, when the company laid off workers from its pharmacy. The same year, Amazon laid off hundreds of others across Amazon Care, and also closed down its Halo Health division. This marked 2023 as the largest year of layoffs in Amazon’s history. Amazon has already seen multiple layoffs since the start of 2024 and might be on its way to breaking last year’s record.
2024 continues the layoff trend of last year
2023 was a particularly difficult year when it came to job security. Almost every industry seemed to be affected, especially because many companies were making the jump to AI. 2024 is not only continuing that trend but ramping up the intensity.
In just the first month of the new year companies all across the globe laid off thousands and thousands of employees. Many customer support roles have already been automated with AI tools. A large number of departments in every company are being downsized. Giant multinationals have been announcing layoffs left, right, and center for months. Amazon laid off hundreds from its Prime Video and MGM Studio staff. Google’s CEO is telling employees to brace for more layoffs, and eBay and Snapchat are laying off almost ten percent of their workforce.
This trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, and similar news is expected throughout the year. It also remains to be seen if layoffs of such magnitude are going to impact the economy. The companies laying off so many people might just end up hurting themselves in the process.