Amazon Management Cuts Will Apply to Fewer Workers Than in Some Forecasts

In September, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy made waves when he announced a plan to sharply reduce the number of managers at the internet giant, partly to combat the bureaucracy creeping into its culture. It turns out Jassy’s plan will affect far fewer managers than some outside the company had expected.

Amazon’s efforts to cut back the number of managers at the company will apply only to its corporate employees, not to what it calls “front line” staff—the workers in its sprawling warehouse and delivery operations who represent the vast majority of its head count—Udit Madan, the head of Amazon’s worldwide operations, said in an interview. Out of the more than 1.5 million total global employees at Amazon, over 1 million are front-line workers, while just over 350,000 have corporate roles, including those in engineering, marketing and product management.