Amazon's Premature Layoff Alert Sparks Employee Confusion

Amazon mistakenly informed AWS employees of layoffs prematurely via an email meant for later. Thousands are expected to be laid off, yet official confirmation hasn't been given. The email, signed by a senior VP, was retracted, causing confusion among employees. The layoffs are referred to as 'Project Dawn.'

Amazon inadvertently alerted many of its Amazon Web Services employees to impending layoffs with an email and meeting invite that were mistakenly sent ahead of schedule on Tuesday.

According to a report by Reuters, Amazon planned to initiate workforce reductions involving thousands of corporate employees. The erroneous email, signed by Colleen Aubrey, senior vice president of applied AI solutions, prematurely indicated that impacted employees in the U.S., Canada, and Costa Rica had already been notified.

On internal Slack channels, employees questioned the premature notification, which was swiftly revoked. The layoff initiative is referred to as 'Project Dawn,' reflecting Amazon's effort to strategically position AWS for long-term success. Amazon has yet to publicly confirm details of the layoff plan.