Amazon has started so-called boomerang hiring to bring back former employees who left the company during past restructuring. Moves to rehire former staff have been confirmed in technology areas including Amazon Web Services (AWS), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

On Sept. 24, overseas media including IT outlet TechRadar reported that Amazon is informing former employees of vacancies and suggesting they return. Emails from Amazon recruiters obtained by Business Insider included cases in which former employees were contacted directly, mainly for AWS and AI-related groups. Some recipients included employees who left as part of earlier job cuts at Amazon.

In the organization led by AWS vice president Swami Sivasubramanian (스와미 시바수브라마니안), former employees in AI and machine learning were offered a return. One recruiter described the effort as "Swami's boomerang re-engagement initiative."

Amazon has also simplified some procedures for rehiring former employees, the report said. In one case, an AWS finance recruiter told a former employee that a short interview process could lead to an offer, indicating a route to return faster than through regular hiring.

Amazon is also checking why former employees left the company. One AWS recruiter asked a former employee whether the return-to-office policy (RTO) had been a key reason for leaving, and said the response could be used in future hiring approaches that reflect remote work and workplace preferences.

Amazon drew a line at interpretations that it is specifically targeting employees who left because of RTO. Amazon spokesperson Haley Silva (헤일리 실바) said boomerang hiring is not a new program limited to a specific organization but a hiring practice that has long continued across the company. She also said rehiring candidates can include employees who left due to Amazon job cuts, but the company is not hiring only those who resigned over RTO, and its expectations for office attendance have not changed.

The move coincides with Amazon continuing to secure workers in some areas while carrying out large-scale layoffs. Amazon announced layoffs of about 14,000 in October last year and about 16,000 in January this year, cutting about 30,000 jobs in less than six months. At the time, the company said it would reduce unnecessary layers within the organization and ease bureaucracy while continuing to invest in and hire for strategic areas important for the future.

The rehiring therefore can be seen less as a broad expansion of overall headcount and more as a process to secure needed workers in organizations that have openings even after layoffs. The report said Amazon is pursuing talent by offering opportunities again to former employees who already experienced the company's work and organization, particularly in areas such as AWS and AI and machine learning. Amazon said it is hiring to fill open roles for both new applicants and former employees, and that rehiring former employees is part of its usual hiring approach.