The labour ministry will conduct an Investigation following a wave of Amazon layoffs
The government will launch an investigation into the Amazon layoffs to determine whether the resignations violated any labour laws or terms of service. The labour ministry contacted Amazon last week about its voluntary separation programme (VSP) and asked for more information.
After Amazon layoffs across functions, its India division began encouraging employees to resign voluntarily by distributing a voluntary separation programme (VSP). It informed employees that eligible employees will have the option to voluntarily resign in exchange for VSP benefits. It came after NITES, a Pune-based union working for the rights of IT employees, recently submitted a petition asking the Union government and state labour authorities to conduct an investigation into Amazon’s “unethical and illegal layoffs” email. According to the IT union, Amazon forcibly terminated a large number of employees in India.
After being summoned by the labour ministry to appear before the deputy chief labour commissioner in Bengaluru on Wednesday over the layoffs, Amazon India stated that it had not sacked any employees and had only let go of those who had accepted the voluntary separation program. Amazon recently began laying off employees across the company due to an “unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment,” with plans to cut 10,000 employees, or 3% of its workforce. Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, also stated that the company will continue to cut jobs until 2023 as it adjusts to changing business conditions and that the decisions will be communicated to impacted employees and organisations in early 2023.
According to reports, Amazon’s experience and technology team has asked several Indian employees in the L1-L7 band to voluntarily leave. According to reports, the company informed these employees that they are eligible for the VSP. According to the company’s announcement, eligible employees will be able to voluntarily resign in exchange for VSP benefits. The VSP must be submitted using smart forms between November 16 and November 30. Prior to Amazon, Meta, and Twitter laid off employees as part of global IT sector layoffs. On November 9, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms, announced that the company has decided to reduce its team size by about 13% and lay off over 11,000 employees. Twitter has also laid off 50% of its workforce.
Google and HP are also preparing to lay off employees. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is reportedly planning to lay off 10,000 “low-performing” employees, or 6% of its workforce. Enrique Lores, CEO of US tech giant HP, has also stated that the company plans to reduce its workforce by 4,000 to 6,000 people over the next three years. He added that, while these are difficult decisions, he is acting in the best interests of the company.
