Amazon Lays off Employees in Communications and Sustainability Departments

Amazon Restructures Communications and Sustainability Divisions Amid Strategic Workforce Realignment

Posted on August 28, 2025 by John William

Amazon has started a new round of layoffs, this time in its communications and sustainability departments. Senior management have confirmed the restructuring, which is part of the company’s larger attempt to make operations more efficient and streamline them.

Drew Herdener, Senior Vice President in charge of Corporate Responsibility and Public Relations, sent out an internal note to let everyone know about the changes. He said that jobs that were too specific or involved extra levels of management needed to be cut. Herdener said the decision was made in order to “flatten the structure” and make resources more in line with business goals.

An Amazon spokesman said that the reorganization will “help us move faster, give people more responsibility, strengthen our culture, and bring teams closer to customers.”

Effects on the Communications and Sustainability Teams

The restructuring mostly impacts workers in Amazon’s communications and sustainability departments, both of which have grown a lot in the last few years. Herdener said that some jobs will be cut, while others may be moved to other parts of the corporation. Some employees could even be hired back into new jobs with different responsibilities and levels.

Amazon stressed that anyone affected will get help with money, benefits, and finding a new job. This is similar to how the corporation handled prior layoffs, when they tried to lessen the effects on employees who were leaving.

Understanding Workforce Reductions

Under CEO Andy Jassy, the company has been cutting jobs over the past few years. Amazon cut more than 27,000 jobs between 2022 and 2023, making it one of the biggest downsizing efforts in the company’s history. Smaller cuts kept happening through 2024 and are still happening in 2025.

The business has also shut down or cut back on a number of experimental projects that didn’t mesh with its long-term ambitions for making money. Some of these are a “Try Before You Buy” clothing program and a faster delivery service for physical stores.

Even after the layoffs, Amazon still has more than 1.5 million employees around the world, making it one of the biggest private employers in the world.

Change in the strategy for offices and hubs

As part of the restructure, Amazon is looking at its “hub strategy” again, which tells teams where they should be situated most of the time. The new concept aims to bring employees together so that more of them may work with their bosses and teammates in the same place.

Earlier this year, Amazon made it mandatory for corporate employees to be in the office five days a week. This adjustment comes after that. In certain situations, workers were told to move to specific hubs in other states. This made some employees quit instead of moving.

The new hub strategy is part of a bigger plan to make reporting structures easier and cut down on the number of managers in the company.

Finding a balance between keeping costs down and keeping promises to be environmentally friendly

This restructuring will have a direct effect on Amazon’s sustainability section, which is a key part of the company’s efforts to fight climate change. Amazon promised in 2019 to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. Since then, the company has established one of the world’s largest portfolios of renewable energy, with more than 500 solar and wind projects across the world.

The corporation also wants to use only renewable energy to power all of its activities by 2025. Even though there are layoffs right now, Amazon said again that sustainability is still a top priority for the company.

Historical Background: A surge in hiring and a drop in hiring

Amazon is currently laying off workers after recruiting a record number of people during the COVID-19 outbreak. From the end of 2019 to 2021, its workforce grew to more than 1.6 million people, thanks to a rise in demand for e-commerce, logistics, and cloud services.

As the market changed and growth slowed down, the company went through a retrenchment phase under CEO Jassy, focusing on cost control, operational efficiency, and strategy realignment.

Final Thoughts

Amazon’s most recent layoffs in its communications and sustainability departments show that the company is still working toward greater operational efficiency and organizational clarity. The restructure is hard for the workers who are affected, but it is part of CEO Andy Jassy’s larger goal to make the company more efficient, hold people accountable, and make sure that teams are more aligned with business goals.

Amazon is still committed to its climate targets and expanding renewable energy, which shows that sustainability is still a big part of its worldwide strategy, even though it is making changes to its staff.

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