In one of the latest tech industry layoffs which saw 27,000 roles eliminated at Amazon, one new mother says she lost her job immediately upon her return from maternity leave.
In a now-viral video posted by Lauren Denham (@laurenlearnslife) that has drawn over 474,000 views on TikTok, she says she is ultimately OK with this outcome.
On her first day back from her four-month maternity leave, she says she sat down to begin her workday and received an email letting her know that the company eliminated her position in its mass layoff.
@laurenlearnslife Fun-employment? Don’t threaten me with a good time 😎 #masslayoffs #bigtechlayoffs #techlayoffs #amazonlayoffs #maternityleave #momtok #momsoftiktok #sahmtok ♬ original sound – Lauren Denham
“Layoffs suck, there’s no way around it,” she says in the video. “It’s really hard not to take it personal. But with that said, I honestly didn’t even want to go back. I just want to be with my baby for a little bit longer, and I didn’t even like the job. But, I wouldn’t have quit because I made too much money and it was too cushiony and I was comfortable. So in a way, I’m a little grateful.”
Amazon CEO Andy Jassey announced an additional 9,000 layoffs via a company memo in March, stating that the company would shift to leaner operations. The move comes after the company had previously announced a layoff of 18,000 employees in January.
“Some may ask why we didn’t announce these role reductions with the ones we announced a couple months ago,” Jassey stated in the memo. “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 Daily Dot has reached out to Amazon via email regarding the video, as well as to Denham via Instagram direct message.
Several viewers who had also been laid off shared that they had similar sentiments to the poster, and were glad to spend more time with their children.
“I had the same reaction when this happened to me! It sucked to be unemployed but I was so grateful to have more time with my baby,” one user wrote.
“Omg same!” another commenter said. “Came back from my maternity leave and my position got cut.”
“Ooh that’s so crummy after maternity but you wouldn’t regret the time with your baby at all!” a viewer shared.
