'Resign now or get laid off later?' Employee shares puzzling situation on Reddit

A user on the social media platform Reddit has raised concerns about alleged pressure from a manager at Amazon to resign ahead of anticipated layoffs. The post, which appeared on the subreddit r/IndianWorkplace, quickly attracted attention for its depiction of internal turmoil at the e-commerce giant.

AI surge, human cost: Thousands of jobs lost in 2025 as layoffs accelerate

Posting anonymously, the individual claimed to hold a Level 3, non-technical position at Amazon and described a recent conversation with a manager. According to the account, the manager warned that termination by human resources was likely within the week and advised the employee to submit a resignation immediately.

“So I am in an L3 role at Amazon (nontech) and I just had a call with my manager that there is a pretty good chance that the HR will terminate me by Friday or max next week, so it's best to self-resign and is asking me to resign by today as per the instructions given to her,” the user wrote.

The poster added that the manager assured him resignation would spare him the obligation of serving a notice period, while still receiving the equivalent compensation.

Yet the employee expressed hesitation, noting that Amazon typically issues annual bonuses in late May. “Here is my concern—we get the yearly bonus in May every year and I am scared that I won't be getting the bonus in addition to my salary,” the post continued.

The Reddit user also claimed that termination could result in blacklisting from future employment opportunities at the company.

While the post does not provide any identifying details or independent verification of the user's employment, it has sparked a flurry of responses from the Reddit community, many of whom cautioned against resignation.

“If you resign, you have to serve the notice period. If you get terminated then you get severance,” one commenter wrote.

Another added, “Don’t resign! You won’t get severance in that case. You will still be blacklisted internally as a ‘bad hire.’ Your manager is trying to save money for severance. Don’t fall for that.”

Amazon has not commented publicly on the post, and it remains unclear whether the account reflects broader trends within the company. The tech giant has undergone multiple rounds of layoffs over the past two years as part of wider cost-cutting initiatives.

Google Engineer responds to Microsoft layoffs, says ‘Tech pays 5x more than government jobs’