Report: Amazon Slows Alexa Staff Hiring To Improve Margin

Amazon has put some hiring on hold in its Alexa operation amid the pandemic, Bloomberg reported, citing two unnamed sources.

The change reportedly started just past the time that COVID-19 severely impacted the country at the beginning of spring, according to the unnamed sources in the report.

Supervisors in some areas were notified they couldn’t bring in people to take the place of those exiting over a period of multiple months, the unnamed people said in the report.

However, the firm has reportedly started to allow them to put some individuals in vacancies in some cases where the go-ahead has been granted.

Alexa device use jumped once millions of people in the country started to work remotely in the middle of March, according to two unnamed sources in the report. But the excitement has been partially diminished as individuals gradually go back to their workplaces, according to another unnamed source in the report.

A representative for the eCommerce retailer said in a statement cited by the outlet that it “did not implement a hiring freeze, and the pace for hiring across Alexa and our Devices organization continues to be very strong. In fact, we have added thousands of employees to the organization since April.”

In separate news, Amazon said it intends to grow its “tech hubs” in six cities and fill “3,500 new tech and corporate jobs” throughout the country, the company said on Tuesday (Aug. 18). The six targeted cities include New York, Phoenix, San Diego, Detroit, Dallas and Denver and will be a part of an investment in excess of $1.4 billion.

“Teams in these cities will support various businesses across Amazon,” the company said in a blog post.

And, in other Amazon news, the retailer is continuing its strong clamp-down on counterfeit items. The eCommerce retailer announced the growth of its Project Zero anti-counterfeit program to seven new countries.

The project is reportedly now working in 17 countries where Amazon does business. The project seeks to get rid of counterfeit items via proprietary technology along with brand cooperation and machine learning.