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Amazon cuts 16k jobs

reuters.com

501–510 of 1001 posts

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#501
post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actual effective managers do much more than "gathering information from folks below him, distilling it down and reporting that to people above him."

> Actual effective managers do much more And how many managers are effective vs. only information funnels?

Even “only” information funnels have value if they seek out valuable info, filter, curate. In reality some funnels in this context mutate the message they’re supposed to pass on :-)

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#502
post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh dear. I wish middle management was simply "gathering information" from the decks below and reporting it to the bridge.

Tell you what, why don't we get rid of management altogether and just have a flat org ?

Because social animals have hierarchical social structures.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#503
post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh dear. I wish middle management was simply "gathering information" from the decks below and reporting it to the bridge.

Tell you what, why don't we get rid of management altogether and just have a flat org ?

> A few years into the company’s life, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin actually wondered whether Google needed any managers at all. In 2002 they experimented with a completely flat organization, eliminating engineering managers in an effort to break down barriers to rapid idea development and to replicate the collegial environment they’d enjoyed in graduate school. That experiment lasted only a few months: They relented when too many people went directly to Page with questions about expense reports, interpersonal conflicts, and other nitty-gritty issues. And as the company grew, the founders soon realized that managers contributed in many other, important ways—for instance, by communicating strategy, helping employees prioritize projects, facilitating collaboration, supporting career development, and ensuring that processes and systems aligned with company goals.

https://hbr.org/2013/12/how-google-sold-its-engineers-on-man...

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#504

This summer I went camping and at the campground next to me was a middle manager at Amazon. I’ve been out of the workforce for about a year, so I asked him how much of an impact AI was having in his role. He told me that he had worked to develop a tool that would replace effectively all of the middle management function that he was responsible for: gathering information from folks below him, distilling it down and re…

You should watch this movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527793/

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#505
post #4

Every large company is updating its standard layoffs announcement press release from "economic headwinds" to "AI".

“Overhiring during the pandemic” was a common, senseless, catchphrase a few years ago.

I think the thing to remember is that with interest rates being essentially 0 during the (middle/end of) pandemic that made it really easy for a lot of companies to finance a virtually free checkbook. They were at liberty to try out all sorts of new experiments, virally for free (at that moment).

Now those bonds are all coming up for renewal at much higher interest rates, and the companies don't have the growth to organically support the higher head-count (in addition to the interest payments), and so are cutting.

Was this all wildly irresponsible? Yes. But the people who made those decision are never going to personally pay for any of it.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#506

This summer I went camping and at the campground next to me was a middle manager at Amazon. I’ve been out of the workforce for about a year, so I asked him how much of an impact AI was having in his role. He told me that he had worked to develop a tool that would replace effectively all of the middle management function that he was responsible for: gathering information from folks below him, distilling it down and re…

> He told me that he had worked to develop a tool that would replace effectively all of the middle management function that he was responsible for: gathering information from folks below him, distilling it down and reporting that to people above him. Any manager whose job was this simple was on borrowed time anyway. I think the person was feeding you a story around the campfire to impress you. Real management work do…

lol. it does. its a good description of about 90% of the mgrs

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#507

This summer I went camping and at the campground next to me was a middle manager at Amazon. I’ve been out of the workforce for about a year, so I asked him how much of an impact AI was having in his role. He told me that he had worked to develop a tool that would replace effectively all of the middle management function that he was responsible for: gathering information from folks below him, distilling it down and re…

I'm super sympathetic that losing your job sucks. I lost mine once.

At the same time, what's the alternative? Progress happens. We no longer have liveries for holding horses nor horse shoe makers (not at the level we used to). We no longer have telephone operators.

Making up jobs to keep people employed isn't a viable solution to me. Supporting them in some way (re-training, UBI, service work, ...) seems like the only way forward.

I guess maybe I can imagine making it harder to fire people so you have to find something to do with them. But that also has negative consequences. Small companies won't/can't hire because they can't make the guarantees big companies can.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#508
post #97

Interesting perspective of an L7 who was laid off at Amazon https://xcancel.com/PlumbNick/status/2016500347053773198

I would wager being remote made him a target. It seems like a stretch to say it's just the global job market when the layoffs are global.

This and being based in Houston, TX, where as far as I know no organization has a hub location.

Besides entire teams or business units, the targets were people who did not comply to RTO or were not sitting with their teams.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#509

I wonder what kind of unprecedented economic growth we'd be seeing right now if we kept with the status quo rather than imposing tariffs and scaring off foreign investors.

The US was setting itself for quite a recovery in 2024... and for a class war too, so IDK what would get there first.

Re: Amazon cuts 16k jobs

#510

10% cut of the corporate workforce in 2 months is wild lol Crazy most of it is programmers (and/or various other white collar jobs) tbh

Doesn't say it's programmers though but middle management: > Amazon slashed 14,000 white-collar jobs in late October, with CEO Andy Jassy stressing the need for the company to eliminate *excessive bureaucracy* by trimming operational levels and reducing the number of managers.

Yes but this is a lie, a vast majority of the cuts in both rounds from October and today have been individual contributors, not managers.
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