Amazon cuts more jobs: ‘As part of our ongoing work to make our teams …,’ says company

Amazon is reportedly laying off more employees. The fresh round of layoffs at the company is affecting the Books division this time. As reported by Reuters, Amazon is laying off employees from the Books division, including roles at Goodreads and Kindle. The company has also confirmed that less than 100 employees were impacted as part of this layoff. With the fresh round of layoffs Amazon aims to streamline operations and also improve efficiency. These cuts follow recent layoffs in Amazon’s Devices and Services unit, Wondery podcast division, and stores and communications teams. CEO Andy Jassy has been pushing to

reduce bureaucracy

, including cutting layers of management.

Amazon layoffs: What the company said

In a statement given to Reuters, Amazon said that the layoffs are part of its broader strategy to align teams with its business roadmap. “As part of our ongoing work to make our teams and programs operate more efficiently, and to better align with our business roadmap, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles within the Books organization,” a company spokesperson told Reuters.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s plan to cut bureaucracy at company

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees that building large teams and personal fiefdoms is not the path to advancement at the company, emphasizing instead that the e-commerce giant rewards those who accomplish more with fewer resources. Jassy's comments came during a recent all-hands meeting as Jassy continues his push to reduce management layers and bureaucracy across the organization.The CEO highlighted Amazon's commitment to operating with the agility of "the world's largest startup" despite its size. This initiative includes a recently completed effort to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by 15% across the company. Rather than massive layoffs, Amazon achieved this goal by combining teams and moving some managers into individual contributor roles.

Jassy also stressed the importance of meritocracy over bureaucracy in Amazon's corporate culture. He mentioned reviewing more than a thousand employee emails sent to a dedicated "No Bureaucracy" alias, which has already resulted in 375 process improvements.