Retail giant Amazon is pausing hiring for roles in its corporate workforce, the company announced in a memo to staff Thursday.
“We anticipate keeping this pause in place for the next few months, and will continue to monitor what we’re seeing in the economy and the business to adjust as we think makes sense,” Amazon’s HR chief Beth Galetti wrote in the memo.
She explained the company was facing “an unusual macro-economic environment”, and is focused on balancing hiring and investments. “This is not the first time that we’ve faced uncertain and challenging economies in our past”.
After Amazon announced last month it was freezing corporate roles hirings in its retail business, Thursday’s announcement is expected to affect its other businesses.
According to Galeti the company will backfill roles to replace employees who leave for new opportunities, and it will continue to “hire people incrementally” in some targeted places.
After the retail giant hiring exploded during the Covid-19 pandemic, now consumers going back to physical stores are impacting on line sales.
The company’s workforce contracted for the first time in years in the second quarter, however in the third quarter its headcount grew 5% year over year, to 1.54 million employees worldwide.
