After controversy over electronic bracelets used to optimize work in warehouses, Amazon returns to the eye of the storm for issues affecting its workers. This time the danger is not of working in difficult conditions but directly of losing one's job, given that the US press has announced – and patron Jeff Bezos confirmed – that the American e-commerce giant is in the process of laying off hundreds of employees, especially those at its Seattle headquarters.
"As part of our annual planning process we are making adjustments to the number of employees in the company: small reductions in a couple of places and large hirings in many others," commented Bezos, thus confirming what is a real reversal trend compared to the last eight years, when Amazon, which a few days ago celebrated a historic quarterly with revenues beyond expectations (above 60 billion dollars) and assets for the first time exceeding one billion dollars, had steadily increased its headcount, in the USA and in Europe, reaching 566 thousand work units in 2017. Of which 139 created in 2017 alone.
“For workers impacted by the cuts we are working to look for positions in the areas where we are hiring,” a company statement added, even though only a third of open positions are located in Seattle, so for the most part only a reintegration into business abroad would be possible. Bezos' new strategy is therefore to reduce expenses, focusing on the electronic commerce sector and focusing on the activities deemed most profitable, without neglecting, however, a differentiation of activities.
One of these is just recently defined: according to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is going to assault healthcare, aiming to supply products to hospitals and clinics through a specific digital market place. It's pretty much about simplify the healthcare system through digital technologies and some health executives told the American newspaper that they had participated in a series of meetings that took place at the headquarters of Jeff Bezos' group in Seattle. The project is by a joint company between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan which revolutionized the complex architecture of the American healthcare system from top to bottom, reducing its costs.
