Shreya Bhosale felt deja vu when Amazon announced last week it was laying off 14,000 corporate workers.
She knew exactly what so many people were suddenly going through. Bhosale, 28, is a tech worker in Seattle and was among the 18,000 Amazon staffers laid off in January 2023.
Bhosale tells CNBC Make It that two years ago, she’d heard rumors of potential layoffs swirling in news reports. By the time she received notice that she’d been let go, she says it was “a complete shock” and “disappointing” to learn the news via email.
“It was just out of nowhere, and it definitely took a toll on my emotional health,” Bhosale says. “It disrupted my sleep. I had a lot of self-doubt. There was difficulty in eating [and] constant anxiety.”
Adding to her stress, Bhosale was hired to Amazon as an engineer just out of grad school as an international student from India, and her layoff put her work visa and ability to stay in the U.S. in jeopardy.
