The government will start an inquiry into the Amazon layoffs to figure out if the resignations at the company constituted any violations of labour laws or terms of service, according to a report by Hindustan Times. Last week, the labour ministry sent a notice to Amazon over its voluntary separation programme (VSP) and asked to provide details related to it.
After Amazon announced layoffs across functions, its India arm started urging its employees to quit voluntarily by sending out a voluntary separation programme (VSP). It told employees that eligible employees will have the opportunity to resign voluntarily from employment in exchange for the VSP benefits.
It came after NITES, a Pune-based union working for the rights of employees of IT companies, recently submitted a petition and requested the Union government and the state labour authorities to conduct an inquiry regarding the “unethical and illegal layoffs” email being sent to employees by Amazon. The IT union claimed that Amazon forcibly terminated a large number of employees in India.
After the company was summoned by the labour ministry to appear before the deputy chief labour commissioner in Bengaluru on Wednesday over the layoffs, Amazon India said it has not sacked any employee but only let go of those accepted the voluntary separation programme (VSP).
Recently, Amazon started laying off employees across the company amid an “unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment” and plans to cut 10,000 or 3 per cent of its workforce. Its CEO Andy Jassy also said Amazon will continue to cut jobs into 2023 as it adjusts to business conditions and the decisions will be shared with impacted employees and organisations early in 2023.
According to reports, several Indian employees in the L1-L7 band in Amazon’s experience and technology team have been asked to quit voluntarily. The company has reportedly sent a note to these employees saying that they are eligible for the VSP. Eligible employees will have the opportunity to resign voluntarily from employment in exchange for VSP benefits, according to the company’s note. The VSP has to be submitted via smart forms between November 16 and 30.
As part of IT sector layoffs globally, before Amazon, Meta and Twitter also laid off employees. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms, on November 9 said the company has decided to reduce the size of its team by about 13 per cent and let more than 11,000 employees go. Twitter has also laid off 50 per cent of its employees.
Google and HP are also now planning layoffs. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is reportedly gearing up to lay off about 10,000 “poor performing” employees, or 6 per cent of its workforce. US tech giant HP CEO Enrique Lores has also said the company will cut the size of its workforce in the next three years and expects to reduce it by 4,000 to 6,000 persons. He added that while these are difficult decisions, he is doing what is best for the company’s business.
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