Workers are referred to as families. sab drama: Amazon’s layoffs are criticized by the CIO, who claims AI that causes people to suffer is pointless.

Gurmeet Chadha’s comments coincide with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s vigorous reorganization initiatives aimed at cutting middle management and boosting productivity.

Complete Circle CIO Gurmeet Chadha strongly criticized Amazon’s most recent wave of layoffs, taking to X to voice his annoyance at AI-driven job losses and business jargon. Chadha tweeted, “Amazon is laying off 10000 more people after laying off 18k in November,” in response to the company’s move to lay off more workers. They refer to their HR directors by fancy titles like Chief People Officer, People Experience Head, etc. Workers are referred to as families. Sab drama!

Chadha maintained that disruptive technology should not be used at the expense of people’s livelihoods and took a strong stand against mass layoffs in the name of innovation. “AI is useless, as is any disruption that causes suffering for your own people.”

He also cited Guru Nanak Dev’s “Sarbat da bhalla” (welfare of everyone) concept, emphasizing that any invention should be centered on the benefit of people. “Call me traditional, but I place a higher importance on people than anything else. According to Guru Nanak Devji, the welfare of the people (Sarbat da bhalla) should be at the center of any invention.

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.

Jassy defended the decision in an interview with Bloomberg, saying, “You add a lot of people and you end up with a lot of middle managers.” Even the well-meaning middle managers want to have their name attached to everything.

The goal of the method is to provide workers more freedom so they may take responsibility for their work rather than depending on several levels of management. “So you end up with these people being in the pre-meeting, for the pre-meeting, for the decision meeting,” Jassy said, criticizing the corporate culture of holding too many pre-meetings.

It’s interesting to note that Gen Z workers, who prefer self-management to traditional hierarchies, have embraced Amazon’s move to have fewer managers. According to a Robert Walters survey, 72% of Gen Z employees desire career advancement free from supervisory duties, and 52% would rather avoid middle management positions.

Amazon’s return-to-office policy is nonetheless a source of resentment in spite of this. AWS CEO Matt Garman, who maintains that meaningful innovation is hard to achieve remotely, supports the company’s policy of requiring workers to work in-office five days a week. Employees have reacted negatively to this, though, with many choosing to “rage apply” for new positions and even sending letters to management to voice their disapproval.

Amazon’s move to cut middle managers is in line with a larger industry trend known as “conscious unbossing,” in which businesses lessen managerial supervision in an effort to foster employee development and productivity. Similar changes are also being made by tech behemoths like Google and Meta.