Amazon has started to inform thousands of its corporate workers of layoffs through early-morning text messages. The tech company is in the throes of a restructuring that’s being powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation and the move suggests other companies may opt for the same blunt approach as mass layoffs continue to accelerate. Your Badge Has Been Removed: Layoffs by Text Message On Tuesday morning affected employees received two text messages: one from Amazon instructing them to check their personal or work email before coming into the office and a second one for those who had not yet received “an email message about your role” to contact a help-desk. The notifications were sent in part to ensure that employees didn’t show up on campus before Amazon cut their badge access a new trend in mass-layoff procedures. Numbers & Significance Amazon has announced that it will lay off about 14000 employees worldwide though internal calculations “suggest a number that’s double or triple that” (30000). The layoffs were expected even as Amazon reported robust earnings in other areas. It’s notable because Amazon’s move comes not as a “cost-saving measure but a shift in focus” part of a recalibration that’s “positioned as a reset after a rapid post-pandemic hiring spree.” The layoff notice cites the company’s faster-than-anticipated ability to develop AI capabilities as “the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet” and a driver of an ongoing process to “reduce layers flatten the organization and move resources into our largest bets.” Departments & Internal Communication Departments that stand to lose a significant number of employees include human resources (People Experience & Technology) devices & services operations and other internal support functions. In an email to employees Amazon Senior VP of HR Beth Galetti wrote that: “I have some important but difficult news to share with you … after a thorough review of our organization our priorities and what we need to focus on going forward we’ve made the hard business decision to eliminate some roles across Amazon.” Employees were informed that badge access had been removed that they would be put on a “non-working period” immediately (while pay and benefits would be provided for 90 days) and that Amazon would provide support for severance outplacement and internal mobility. Context: Pandemic Reset & AI Pivot The layoffs are a symptom of a larger story playing out across Big Tech: a realignment around automation efficiency and particularly AI after a massive hiring boom during the pandemic. Earlier in the year Amazon CEO Andy Jassy foreshadowed the need for fewer workers as AI systems were scaled and tasks previously done by humans were reassigned to algorithms. Amazon was profitable across divisions in one recent quarter (reporting a US $18 billion profit) but the company has also argued that conditions are shifting fast and that it must move to “leaner structure fewer layers more ownership”. Implications: For Workers & the Sector For workers it’s the mechanics of how the layoffs were executed - text notifications before an in-office return - that’s telling: the move is a reflection of an industry rapidly decoupling from the workforce with implications for how companies sever ties with staff the risk of automation on the labour force and even the emotional rhythm of transitions in employment. For the sector as a whole Amazon’s decision points to the influence AI and automation are having on workforce decisions but also the fact that even so-called giants must restructure not for survival but for transformation.