Ex-Amazon employee describes 800 layoffs in Spain and job openings in India

Amazon laid off 800 employees in Spain and, according to a former worker, posted their tasks in India and the Philippines

Can you fire 800 people and announce 30,000 new hires in the same country at the same time? You can, if the announcement goes up on billboards in Madrid and Barcelona and the dismissals come by video call. A former employee of Amazon's refunds and fraud back office in Spain describes how his department — and his bosses' departments, and his bosses' bosses' — disappeared in three months early this year. The official version cited artificial intelligence. The unofficial one, the one he says he verified himself: the same vacancies, advertised in India and the Philippines.

The account has the texture of the verifiable. Nearly five years of remote work, quantity and quality controls enforced "to the letter," programs inherited from Central European engineers who were later laid off, and a workforce that went from mostly Spanish to mostly South Asian in a few years. The salary for the role: between €24,000 and €34,000 gross per year in 12 payments, with a university degree, advanced English and skills tests along the way. All to process returns.

The collective layoff announced through tears

The mass layoff affected more than 800 people in Spain, according to the former employee's account. The official communication came by video call, months after an internal email had already hinted at the news, delivered by a manager flown in from Barcelona who, he says, pretended to cry as she made the announcement. The detail stings more than the number: when the entire middle management layer is on the list, there is no one left to face the music.

The company justified the move with automation. The former employee offers the counterpoint that turns the explanation into a credibility problem: identical positions posted in India and the Philippines, with cheap native English speakers and nine- or ten-hour remote shifts. It is not that the machine replaces the human; it is that the human here costs more than the one over there. AI as a cover story does not go far when the trail of job ads is there for all to see — always according to his version.

How much does Amazon's back office in Spain pay?

The salary range in the department is around €24,000–34,000 gross in twelve payments, according to the former employee. The requirements are not those of a janitor: a university degree, very strong English, mastery of Office and a specific language test. The degree is not needed to handle refund disputes; it serves as a screening filter when hundreds of candidates apply for each vacancy and the recruiter needs to cut the list fast.

The work, in any case, was not soft. Measured productivity controls, constant communication with anti-fraud teams and policies updated almost every month. Some point out that the seller support system runs on automated responses that close tickets without solving the underlying problem, pushing users to reopen the case again and again. The result is a service that looks like attention and practices form-filling.

Fraud in both directions: customers play too

The conversation about returns goes both ways. On one side, buyer abuse: used and returned products, accounts closed for scam attempts, reports in extreme cases. On the other, the non-compliant seller and the double fraud — a customer scamming a seller who is himself scamming. The fraud teams absorb losses that sometimes look like tolerance and sometimes are simple accounting arithmetic.

The question hanging in the air is how much room Amazon has to keep absorbing that cost. The former employee's answer is hardly reassuring: the company has been stagnant in Spain for four or five years and cuts costs every few years. The data center in Aragon and the 30,000-employee campaign are the shop window; the back room empties out quarter by quarter — always according to his account.

The career ladder at Amazon: two paths and a toll

The testimony of a former warehouse manager draws the other side of the picture. She joined as an Area Manager in Getafe on a salary of €32,000 plus shares, with 130 operatives per shift; a year later, warehouse manager in Murcia on €63,000 plus bonus and shares; on the way to regional level, on €96,000. The condition: forced geographic mobility and demands that burn out most people within 18 months.

That is the model. Fast promotions for those who endure relocations and pressure; calculated turnover for the rest. And in the middle, the uncomfortable question running through any conversation about the giant: if the work can be done from home in another country for a fraction of the cost, what stops it from happening? Nothing. It is already happening.

The deeper debate: labor dumping and record profits

The discussion drifts toward the bigger picture. With €77 billion in profits, the company can afford the efficiency narrative. Some argue that offshoring is the new version of an old phenomenon and that AI is the convenient scapegoat. Opposing them, the classic liberal argument: if someone does the same job for half the price, the adjustment is inevitable and the consumer wins with low prices.

The flaw in that reasoning is that the consumer and the worker are the same person. Cheaper shipping is paid for in the neighbor's paycheck. And when the adjustment hits entire countries, the math does not add up for anyone who does not own shares.

In the end, the scene that sums it all up is that of a boss crying over a video call while her team's vacancies are posted eight thousand kilometers away, according to the former employee's account. If that is artificial intelligence, then God help us all.