Employee laid off from Amazon after 10 years says her job was ‘offshored to India’
The former Amazon employee also lashed out at interviewers for treating those affected by mass layoffs as “red flags”.
Getting laid off should not be a red flag on a resume, but in the tech industry, it often is. A 10-year Amazon veteran, laid off in January 2026, has taken to LinkedIn to express her frustration with interviewers who assume a layoff implies poor performance. She claimed that her role, along with several others in her organisation, was offshored to India to help fund Amazon's $200 billion investment in data centres and AI innovation.

“I’m a little baffled by how often I get asked in interviews why I was laid off. The answer I usually give is the one that was given to me in my off-boarding meeting: My job was offshored to India, along with all the others in my organization, all the way up to the program managers. I sometimes get looks of skepticism, but what more can I say? Amazon wanted to invest $200B in data centers and AI innovation, so they had to cut costs. Is it rude to tell interviewers to Google it?” the woman claimed.
Also Read: 43-year-old laid off from Amazon shares how he got a new job in 90 days
She added, “I think what a lot of them are getting at is that they don’t understand the difference between reduction-in-force and fired-for-cause. In the past few years, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon, and hundreds of other companies have collectively cut hundreds of thousands of jobs. These were financial decisions made at the executive level, affecting people who had been doing their jobs well.”
In the following lines, the former Amazon employee described layoffs as a “business tool.” She claimed, “They happen to strong performers, long-term employees, and people who were well-regarded on their teams, and they also happen to people who were hired 18 months ago when growth projections looked different than they do today. Getting fired is a sticky legal mess that leaves you without a professional reference.”
She explained, “The assumption that layoff = red flag also has an uncomfortable flip side: It implies that the people who *weren’t* laid off are safer bets, when in reality their retention was a matter of tenure, team structure, timing, and luck. (Exactly the same determining factors for those who got cut.).”
In the LinkedIn post, she continued by saying that HR should call references and previous employers if they are really interested in hiring an employee.
“If a company is actually interested in hiring you, they can call your previous employer’s HR department an verify whether or not you’re eligible for rehire. In an interview, the time is better spent focusing on what you did at that company, how you did it, and what you could bring to your next role.”
Her LinkedIn profile suggests she joined Amazon in 2015 and worked at the organisation in different roles over the years. She was allegedly affected y Amazon mass layoff in January 2026.
ABOUT THE AUTHORTrisha SenguptaTrisha Sengupta works as Chief Content Producer at Hindustan Times with over six years of experience in the digital newsroom. Known for her ability to decode the internet’s most talked-about moments, she specialises in high-engagement storytelling that bridges the gap between viral trends and traditional journalism. Throughout her tenure, Trisha has focused on the intersection of technology, finance, and human emotion. She frequently covers personal finance and real estate struggles in hubs like Gurgaon, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, while also documenting the unique challenges of the NRI experience. Her work often highlights the movements and philosophies of global newsmakers and personalities like Elon Musk, Mukesh Ambani, Nikhil Kamath, Dubai crown prince, and MrBeast. From reporting on Amazon or Meta layoffs and startup culture to the emergence of AI-driven platforms like Grok and xAI, she provides a grounded and empathetic perspective on the stories shaping our world. When not decoding the internet, Trisha is likely offline: lost in a book, exploring a historical ruin, or navigating the world as a solo traveler. She balances her fast-paced career with family time and a healthy dose of curiosity, currently trading her "human" sources for silicon ones as she masters AI to future-proof her storytelling.Read More

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