Amazon layoffs hit its One Medical chain, termination letters start arriving for employees

Amazon layoffs hit its One Medical chain, termination letters start arriving for employees unknown

This week, Amazon announced another round of layoffs affecting employees within its Amazon Health Services unit. The tech giant confirmed on Tuesday that it would be laying off hundreds of employees across its healthcare division, including its One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy businesses. These layoffs are part of the company's ongoing restructuring and cost-cutting effort to optimise its resources.

In an internal memo to employees (reported by Forbes), Neil Lindsay, the senior vice president of Amazon Health Services informed Amazonians that the latest job cuts will affect "a few hundred roles" across the two health care units. He added that the layoffs are part of the company's efforts to "reposition resources" to invest in "inventions and experiences'' that benefit customers and members.

Lindsay said the company will offer "financial support, benefit continuation, and career assistance" to the impacted employees during the transition, and they will have "an opportunity to apply for new roles in the organisation."

Though the announcement was made on Tuesday, Amazon began issuing termination letters in the following days. Multiple impacted employees expressed their shock and sadness on LinkedIn, sharing their stories of being laid off after years of dedicated service. Notably, a large portion of these affected employees appear to be from Amazon's subsidiary, One Medical.

One Medical, is a "membership-based primary care practice" offering in-person and virtual care services. The company was acquired by Amazon for $3.9 billion in February 2023. Since the acquisition, Amazon is working on restructuring including the recent playoffs. Among the impacted employees is also an employee named Laura McCaffrey, former Senior Director of Strategic Employer Partnership at One Medical.

In a LinkedIn post, Laura revealed that she received her dismissal letter after nearly 16 years with the company. Laura joined One Medical when it was a small startup with just four offices, witnessing its growth first hand.However her long journey with the company came to an end with the recent layoffs.

Another impacted Amazon business is the Amazon Pharmacy. The company introduced its pharmacy business on November 17, 2020. The online pharmacy is a subsidiary of Amazon and offers prescription medications for home delivery.

Notably, Amazon's recent workforce reduction follows a year of significant layoffs across the company and its subsidiaries, aimed at cost-cutting and recovering from pandemic-driven overexpansion. In 2023 alone, Amazon let go of over 27,000 employees, following an initial 18,000 layoffs in late 2022 and another 9,000 in early 2023. Additionally, smaller cuts occurred in their Twitch, Prime Video, and MGM Studios divisions this year. Further streamlining included Audible, Amazon's audiobook service, which shed over 100 employees in early January.