Amazon is cutting 14,000 jobs, and CEO Andy Jassy says the reason isn’t financial performance or AI, but a mismatch in company culture, according to the org’s Q3 earnings call.

“The announcement that we made a few days ago was not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI-driven, not right now at least,” Jassy said. “It’s culture.”

Is culture ‘the job of HR’?

The framing has drawn scrutiny from HR professionals. Jason Walker, CEO of consulting firm Thrive HR, delivered a LinkedIn post questioning both the public messaging and its implications for the HR function.

“Is it really better for Amazon to publicly say we hired the wrong 14,000 people?” Walker wrote. “If that’s true, your hiring processes need an overhaul. Hiring the right people and assimilating them is literally the job of HR.”

Walker also highlighted the potential consequences for HR leaders and employees alike. Publicly framing the layoffs as a cultural misfit risks scapegoating HR, raising questions about accountability for the hiring process, he said. At the same time, he wrote that the 14,000 affected employees could face reputational harm, as a “poor cultural fit” label may follow them in the job market.

Amazon’s HR message about layoffs

Amazon’s internal messaging, shared by the company’s top HR leader, Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology, provides additional context. Galetti framed the layoffs as part of a broader organizational strategy: leaner structures, fewer management layers and faster decision-making to respond to rapid changes brought by generative AI.

“While this will include reducing in some areas and hiring in others,” wrote Galleti, “it will mean an overall reduction in our corporate workforce of approximately 14,000 roles.”

Meanwhile, Amazon continues to hire selectively in key strategic areas, signaling that workforce changes are targeted rather than a broad hiring freeze. Also, according to the earnings call, Amazon will add hundreds of thousands of seasonal roles this holiday season, with 250,000 in the U.S., 150,000 in India and thousands across other global markets.

The HR team will likely navigate a new flurry of questions about cultural ownership, internal mobility and reputational risk for both the organization and departing employees. Walker’s critique reminds HR leaders that when public messaging implies HR missteps, it can have tangible effects on the function’s credibility and on the professional lives of employees.