'Employees are called families...sab drama': CIO blasts Amazon's layoffs, says AI that brings misery to people is useless

Amazon’s latest round of layoffs has drawn sharp criticism from Complete Circle CIO Gurmeet Chadha, who took to X to express his frustration over corporate jargon and AI-driven job cuts. Commenting on Amazon’s decision to lay off more employees, Chadha wrote, “Amazon is laying off 10000 more people after laying off 18k in November. They call their HR heads as People Experience Head, Chief People Officer and fancy names… employees r called families. Sab drama!!”

Taking a strong stance against mass layoffs in the name of innovation, Chadha argued that disruptive technology should not come at the cost of people’s livelihoods. “AI or any disruption which brings misery to ur own people is useless.”

He also invoked Guru Nanak Dev’s philosophy of ‘Sarbat da bhalla’ (welfare of all), stressing that people’s well-being should be at the core of any innovation. “Call me old school but I value people more than anything else. Any innovation, as Guru Nanak Devji said, shud keep people welfare (Sarbat da bhalla) as the core.”

Chadha’s remarks come amid Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s aggressive restructuring efforts to reduce middle management and increase efficiency. Jassy had initially targeted a 15% reduction in middle managers by Q1 2025, but the company has already surpassed this goal.

In a Bloomberg interview, Jassy justified the move, stating, “You add a lot of people and you end up with a lot of middle managers. And those middle managers, all well-intended, want to put their fingerprint on everything.”

The strategy is meant to empower employees with greater autonomy, making them take ownership of their work instead of relying on multiple layers of management. Jassy even criticized the corporate culture of excessive pre-meetings, saying, “So you end up with these people being in the pre-meeting, for the pre-meeting, for the pre-meeting, for the decision meeting.”

Interestingly, Amazon’s shift towards fewer managers has been well-received by Gen Z employees, who favor self-management over traditional hierarchies. A survey by Robert Walters found that 52% of Gen Z workers prefer to avoid middle management roles, while 72% want career progression without supervisory responsibilities.

Despite this, Amazon’s return-to-office policy remains a sore point. The company mandates employees to work in-office five days a week, a decision supported by AWS CEO Matt Garman, who insists that true innovation is difficult to achieve remotely. However, this has led to employee backlash, with many opting to "rage apply" for new jobs and even writing letters to leadership in protest.

Amazon’s decision to eliminate middle managers aligns with a broader industry trend called ‘conscious unbossing’, where companies reduce managerial oversight to promote individual growth and efficiency. Tech giants like Meta and Google are also making similar shifts.