If you’re an employee of Amazon, which of these would you rather receive? In other words, would you rather be fired by Andy Jassy or by AI?
Andy Jassy’s Announcement to Employees
As we've just concluded the second phase of our operating plan ("OP2") this past week, I'm writing to share that we intend to eliminate about 9,000 more positions in the next few weeks—mostly in AWS, PXT, Advertising, and Twitch. This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term.
Let me share some additional context.
As part of our annual planning process, leaders across the company work with their teams to decide what investments they want to make for the future, prioritizing what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our businesses. For several years leading up to this one, most of our businesses added a significant amount of headcount. This made sense given what was happening in our businesses and the economy as a whole. However, given the uncertain economy in which we reside, and the uncertainty that exists in the near future, we have chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount. The overriding tenet of our annual planning this year was to be leaner while doing so in a way that enables us to still invest robustly in the key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve customers' lives and Amazon as a whole.
As our internal businesses evaluated what customers most care about, they made re-prioritization decisions that sometimes led to role reductions, sometimes led to moving people from one initiative to another, and sometimes led to new openings where we don't have the right skills match from our existing team members. This initially led us to eliminate 18,000 positions (which we shared in January); and, as we completed the second phase of our planning this month, it led us to these additional 9,000 role reductions (though you will see limited hiring in some of our businesses in strategic areas where we've prioritized allocating more resources).
Some may ask why we didn't announce these role reductions with the ones we announced a couple months ago. The short answer is that not all of the teams were done with their analyses in the late fall; and rather than rush through these assessments without the appropriate diligence, we chose to share these decisions as we've made them so people had the information as soon as possible. The same is true for this note as the impacted teams are not yet finished making final decisions on precisely which roles will be impacted. Once those decisions have been made (our goal is to have this complete by mid to late April), we will communicate with the impacted employees (or where applicable in Europe, with employee representative bodies). We will, of course, support those we have to let go, and will provide packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.
If I go back to our tenet—being leaner while doing so in a way that enables us to still invest robustly in the key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve customers' lives and Amazon as a whole—I believe the result of this year's planning cycle is a plan that accomplishes this objective. I remain very optimistic about the future and the myriad of opportunities we have, both in our largest businesses, Stores and AWS, and our newer customer experiences and businesses in which we're investing.
To those ultimately impacted by these reductions, I want to thank you for the work you have done on behalf of customers and the company. It's never easy to say goodbye to our teammates, and you will be missed. To those who will continue with us, I look forward to partnering with you as we make life easier for customers every day and relentlessly inventing to do so.
Andy
ChatGPT Does It
Q: write a layoff announcement for Amazon from the CEO
Dear Amazon Team,
It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that due to the ongoing challenges presented by the global economic downturn, Amazon must make some difficult decisions. Regrettably, we will be reducing our workforce by a certain percentage over the next few months.
The decision to reduce our workforce is never an easy one, and we understand that this news will come as a shock and a disappointment to many of you. We appreciate your hard work and dedication to Amazon, and we want to assure you that this decision was made after careful consideration and with the best interests of the company in mind.
We are committed to treating all affected employees with respect and dignity during this process. We will be providing those who are impacted with severance packages and other resources to help them transition to their next opportunity.
To those who will be leaving Amazon, please know that we value the contributions you have made to our company, and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
We believe that these changes will enable Amazon to emerge from these challenging times even stronger and better positioned for the future. We will continue to focus on our mission to provide our customers with the best possible experience, and we remain confident in the long-term success of our business.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Sincerely,
[CEO's name]
The Post-Game Analysis
OK, which one did you prefer?
Now for some deeper analysis:
The Management Language Score
We might expect an AI-generated text to lean heavily on the management buzzwords, since after all, that’s what it’s trained on. Yet actually, its prose is almost a model of clarity and directness, compared to the real thing.
“Lean” : Andy, 2. AI, none
“Robust” Andy, 2. AI, none
“Impact” : Andy, 4. AI, one
“Plan”: Andy, 5. AI, none
“Position”: Andy, 3. AI, one
“Impact”: Andy, 4 . AI, one
“Experience”: Andy, 3. AI, one
“Reduction”: Andy, 3. AI, one
“Eliminate”: Andy, 2. AI, none
“Tenet”: Andy, 2. AI, none
“Invest”: Andy, 4. AI, none
What Does the Automated Software Say?
You can be absolutely certain that multiple members of the Communications team and/or Human Resources team at Amazon checked over Andy’s essay, or even wrote it themselves. What does The Computer say?
Paper Rater
I told it the author was post-graduate level and that this was a letter/email.
Here’s the link and here’s what it found with Andy’s letter
Plagiarism Detected
Originality: 8%
This paper may be plagiarized. The percentage of original content in this paper is too low.
Uh-oh.
Usage of Bad Phrases
Bad Phrase Score: 3.97 (lower is better)
The Bad Phrase Score is based on the quality and quantity of trite or inappropriate words, phrases, egregious misspellings, and cliches found in your paper. You did equal or better than 13% of the people in your education level.
Sorry to deliver bad news, but your writing shows signs of poor quality phrases. Please read below.
You may wish to use a thesaurus to replace or reduce your usage of the following words and/or phrases in your paper (worst 10):
have to, don't, didn't, thank, me, make, most, sometimes, see, go
How Well Does Google Translate Do?
An interesting question is: what happens if you translate it to different languages and back to English again? Maybe, as a snarky left-wing commenter said about some conservative writing, “I liked it better in the original German.”
German
As we just completed phase two of our operational plan (“OP2”) last week, I would like to share that we plan to eliminate approximately 9,000 more jobs over the next few weeks – primarily across AWS, PXT, advertising, and Twitch . It was a difficult decision, but one that we believe is best for the company over the long term.
Let me share some additional context.
As part of our annual planning process, leaders across the business work with their teams to decide what investments they want to make for the future, prioritizing what's most important to customers and the long-term health of our businesses. In the years leading up to this year, most of our divisions have added a significant number of employees. This made sense given what was happening in our businesses and in the economy at large. However, given the uncertain economy we are in and the uncertainty that will exist in the near future, we have decided to streamline our costs and headcount. The overarching tenet of our annual planning this year has been to be leaner and do it in a way that allows us to continue to invest heavily in the most important long-term customer experiences that we believe shape the lives of customers and Amazon overall meaningful improvement.
As our internal companies evaluated what matters most to clients, they made reprioritization decisions that sometimes resulted in role cuts, sometimes in employees being moved from one initiative to another, and sometimes in new job opportunities where we didn't have the right skills game from our existing team members. This initially resulted in us cutting 18,000 jobs (which we shared in January); and as we completed the second phase of our planning this month, it led us to those additional 9,000 job cuts (although you will see limited hiring at some of our companies in strategic areas where we have prioritized the allocation of more resources) .
Some may be wondering why we didn't announce these role cuts with the ones we announced a few months ago. The short answer is that not all teams were finished with their analysis by late fall; and rather than rushing through these reviews without due due diligence, we have chosen to share these choices as we made them so that people can get the information as quickly as possible. The same goes for this notice, as the impacted teams aren't done making final decisions on exactly which roles are impacted. As soon as these decisions are made (our goal is to have them finalized by mid to late April), we will communicate with the affected employees (or employee representatives in Europe, where appropriate). Of course, we will support those we need to let go and offer packages that include a separation allowance, transitional health insurance benefits and outside job placement assistance.
Coming back to our tenet – to be leaner and do it in a way that allows us to continue to invest heavily in the core long-term customer experiences that we believe make meaningful improvements in customers' lives and Amazon as a whole - I believe that the result of this year's planning cycle is a plan that achieves this goal. I remain very optimistic about the future and the myriad opportunities we have, both across our largest businesses, Stores and AWS, as well as our newer customer experiences and businesses in which we invest.
To those ultimately impacted by these cuts, I want to thank you for the work you have done on behalf of customers and the company. Saying goodbye to our teammates is never easy and you will be missed. For those who will stay with us, I look forward to working with you as we make our customers' lives easier and relentlessly invent to do so every day.
This is pretty close, but not identical if you compare it closely. Now let’s try a non-Latin, right-to-left language:
Chinese (simplified)
Since we just wrapped up Phase 2 of our Operations Plan ("OP2") last week, I'm writing to share that we intend to cut approximately 9,000 additional positions over the next few weeks - primarily in AWS, PXT, Advertising , and convulsions. It was a difficult decision, but one we believe is the best for the company in the long run.
Let me share some additional background.
As part of our annual planning process, leaders across the company work with their teams to decide where they want to invest for the future, prioritizing what is most important to our customers and the long-term health of our business. In the years preceding this, most of our businesses had added significant headcount. That makes sense, given what's happening to our businesses and the economy as a whole. However, given the uncertain economy we live in and the near-term uncertainty, we have chosen to be even more lean in our costs and headcount. The overarching tenet of our annual plan for this year is streamlining while enabling us to continue to invest heavily in key long-term customer experiences that we believe can significantly improve the lives of our customers and Amazon as a whole.
When our internal business assesses what our clients care about most, they make decisions to reprioritize, which sometimes results in fewer roles, sometimes people move from one program to another, sometimes Sometimes new job vacancies that we don't have the right skills for are matched from our existing team members. This initially resulted in us eliminating 18,000 positions (which we shared in January); and, as we completed Phase 2 planning this month, we cut another 9,000 (although you will see some of our Hiring is limited in strategic areas where more resources are allocated).
Some may ask why we didn't announce these layoffs in addition to the layoffs we announced a few months ago. The short answer is that not all of the teams completed their analyzes by late fall; rather than rushing through these assessments without due effort, we chose to share these decisions we made so people could get the information as quickly as possible . The same goes for this note, as the affected teams have yet to make a final decision on which characters will be affected. Once these decisions have been made (our aim is to have this done by mid-to-late April), we will communicate with affected employees (or, where applicable in Europe, with employee representative bodies). Of course, we will support those we have to let go and will provide a package that includes severance pay, transitional health insurance benefits and external job placement support.
If I go back to our purpose -- to streamline while doing so in a way that allows us to continue investing heavily in key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve the lives of our customers and across Amazon -- I believe the outcome of this year's planning cycle is A plan to achieve this goal. I remain very optimistic about the future and the myriad of opportunities we have, both in our largest businesses, stores and AWS, and new customer experiences and businesses that we are investing in.
To those who are ultimately impacted by these cuts, I want to thank you for the work you are doing on behalf of our clients and our company. Saying goodbye to our teammates is never easy and we will miss you. For those who will continue to work with us, I look forward to working with you as we work tirelessly to make life easier for our customers every day.
This is also pretty darned good, except for a few odd words like “convulsions.”
Google Translate is trained on a corpus of known translations, so it’s not really surprising that it could find a lot of business documents already translated from one language to another. There is a lot of need for those.
Conclusions
As Wikipedia tells us, Andy Jassy comes from privilege. He grew up in Scarsdale, his father was a senior partner in a major law firm (Dewey, Ballantine), and he went to Harvard and Harvard Business School.
His letter is very heavy on the management discipline they followed:
Our operating plan
our annual planning process
be more streamlined in our costs and headcount
overriding tenet of our annual planning
re-prioritization decisions that sometimes led to role reductions
as we completed the second phase of our planning this month
(a real mouthful) If I go back to our tenet—being leaner while doing so in a way that enables us to still invest robustly in the key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve customers' lives and Amazon as a whole
His letter makes perfect sense you consider whom it’s aimed at: the C-suite managers who might give him his next job if he ever leaves Amazon. It’s not aimed at the employees being laid off.