'Entire Team, Manager Laid Off Within Seconds': Viral Reddit Post Highlights Amazon Layoff Shock

The news of Amazon’s mass layoffs is sending shockwaves through the tech world. Many people are worried about what this means for the job market and the future of work. With the growing influence of AI and automation, many tech professionals are debating how these changes will reshape their careers.

Amid the worries, internal stories from Amazon are also making waves as laid-off employees share their struggles on social media. One such story was revealed in a Reddit post on Thursday after a user shared the incident linked to an Amazon employee.

“My friend from Amazon told me how she saw an entire team, including their manager, get laid off right in front of her eyes — all within seconds. The way they had to leave the office was honestly heartbreaking,” the viral post, made on r/layoffs sub-Reddit community, read.

Everyone had to hand in their laptops immediately. There was no time to say goodbye, according to the post.

“These layoffs are massive; entire orgs are being wiped out. The testing teams in Q3 and Q4 were the first to go. They collected company laptops on the spot, and that was it,” the post further read.

The Reddit post has echoed with hundreds of users as they discussed what comes next for the technology sector. On Tuesday, Amazon laid off 14,000 employees in a restructuring exercise that seems to be a part of the broader goal to eliminate 30,000 corporate positions in the company.

The move comes amid concerns over a slowing economy, a rising role of AI-led restructuring and Amazon’s efforts to cut costs. Many employees were sent text messages on Tuesday morning, informing them about the layoffs.

“These companies do not care about your feelings. HR is not on your side. We are all nothing to them. Believe it!” a comment read on the viral Reddit post, which has nearly 500 upvotes.

Another comment criticised the US government and Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, noting: “More tax cuts for Bezos so he can replace everyone with robots.”

A user also pointed out that these layoffs are not exactly due to poor economic conditions, but merely the “greed” of the companies to rake in more profits.

“The infuriating thing is these are not layoffs in tough times. These companies are posting massive profits and it’s purely greed and speculation. Boycotts are the only way to stop this,” the comment read.

One user pointed out that this is the largest AI-driven layoff so far, but it won’t be the last. Office and manual labour roles will also see cuts.

“They will be replaced by AI processes as well as AI-controlled robotics that will perform repetitive tasks like the welding bots did in auto factories in the 70s and 80s,” the user said.

Disclaimer: It is to be noted that NDTV Profit has not verified any of the details in the post independently.