// Amazon.com has initiated a corporate recruitment freeze in light of the tough economic conditions
// The freeze covers new hires. It will replace employees that have left the business
Amazon.com has put a freeze on corporate recruitment as it grapples with an “unusual macro-economic environment”.
Amazon vice president of people experience and technology Beth Galetti said: “We anticipate keeping this pause in place for the next few months, and will continue to monitor what we’re seeing in the economy and the business to adjust as we think makes sense.”
The recruitment freeze covers “new incremental hires” in the online giant’s corporate workforce, although it will hire “backfills” to replace employees that have left.
The retailer had initiated the move in a few of its businesses in recent weeks and this week decided to roll it out across Amazon.com.
Galetti said Amazon was balancing its hiring and investment with “being thoughtful about this economy”.
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She added: “This is not the first time that we’ve faced uncertain and challenging economies in our past.
“While we have had several years where we’ve expanded our headcount broadly, there have also been several years where we’ve tightened our belt and were more streamlined in how many people we added.
“With fewer people to hire this moment, this should give each team an opportunity to further prioritise what matters most to customers and the business, and to be more productive.”
However, Galetti said Amazon still intended to hire a “meaningful number of people” in 2023.
The freeze comes after Amazon warned last week that it expects Christmas sales to be weaker, which sparked a crash in its share price.
In the past two quarters, Amazon’s sales had grown at roughly 7%, its slowest in nearly two decades, and it forecasted that fourth quarter sales would grow between 2% and 8%.
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