Amazon has put a hiring freeze on its corporate roles in its retail sector to rein in costs as online retailers begin to see a decline in customers post-pandemic.
According to a report published by the
, Amazon had instructed recruiters to close all open job postings for those roles and has recommended putting a hold on recruiting activities such as phone calls to screen new candidates.
Company spokesman, Brad Glasser said in a statement that there are however a significant number of open roles across the company's other sectors.
'We have many different businesses at various stages of evolution, and we expect to keep adjusting our hiring strategies in each of these businesses at various junctures,' said Glasser.
It comes amid concerns of an economic downturn that has seen companies including Google, Apple, and Meta slowing down and in some cases temporarily pausing hiring altogether.
Under Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who took over the position a little over a year ago, the company has been pulling back on spending in a bid to trim costs during its weakest growth in more than two decades.
According to The New York Times Jassy, recently told investors that the company had focused on controlling the cost and efficiency in its warehouse and logistics operations.
Amazon saw a sharp rise in demand during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic but, as with other companies that flourished during the crisis it has seen decreased sales as shopping patterns return to pre-pandemic levels.
During the pandemic, Amazon pushed its workforce to more than 1.2 million people globally, up 50 percent from 2019.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy (pictured) said the company has been pulling back on spending in a bid to trim costs during its weakest growth in more than two decades
Amazon has put a hiring freeze on its corporate roles in its retails sector to rein in costs as online retailers begin to see a decline in customers post pandemic
Amazon saw a sharp rise in demand during the early days of the pandemic but, as with other companies, it has seen decreased sales as shopping patterns return to pre-pandemic levels
However, this dampened post-pandemic with the company seeing almost 100,000 fewer people employed since the end of March.
In recent months, Amazon has closed or canceled the launch of new facilities, and it's delaying the opening of some new buildings after its pandemic-driven expansion left it with too much warehouse space.
The corporate hiring freeze is the latest sign that cost-controlling measures are hitting Amazon's core retail and technology teams.
In recent years, Amazon hosted a Career Day in September, where it recruited for tens of thousands of salaried positions.
Last year, it received more than a million job applications. But it did not host the event this year.
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But they aren't the only company looking for ways to cut costs.
Mark Zuckerberg announced a freeze to hiring and warned of plans to 'steadily reduce headcount growth' for the first time in the history of the company.
The Facebook CEO said during a Q&A with employees last week that the company would extend a hiring freeze that has been in place since May.
During that meeting, he said that steps would be taken to reduce costs.
Zuckerberg has suffered significant losses to his personal fortune which has dropped by almost a third in a year.
Meta will also be closing one of its New York offices as part of a plan to reduce growth and cut costs by at least 10 percent in the coming months.
Amazon has closed/canceled the launch of new facilities, and delayed the opening of some new buildings after its pandemic-driven expansion left it with too much warehouse space
Hiring and investments will also slow at Google, just a week after the company canceled its next-generation laptop and reorganized 50 employees
Meta will also be closing one of its New York offices as part of a plan to reduce growth and cut costs by at least 10 percent in the coming months
The company will end its lease of the 200,000 square foot office space at 225 Park Avenue South in the Flatiron district of Manhattan.
'Two twenty-five Park Avenue South has served as a great bridge space to get us to our new offices at Hudson Yards and Farley,' said Meta Spokesperson Jamila Reeves in an email statement, confirming the company's plans to give up the space.
Hiring and investments will also slow at Google, just a week after the company canceled its next-generation laptop and reorganized 50 employees following major cuts to its incubator program.
And in August, the
reported Apple laid off many of its contract-based recruiters
The layoff includes ride-sharing platform Uber, Netflix, and several cryptocurrency exchanges and lending platforms.
It's possibly the first time since the 2008 financial crisis that Apple and Google have trimmed their headcount and gone on a hiring freeze, with big tech firms appearing to brace for severe headwinds.
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