Yeah, the problem is the people most willing to just leave are the ones that can get something else reasonably fast (which end up being your better employees).
AWS has been in decline in terms of quality for years now. They aren't innovating well and even higher turnover will only make things worse. Notice how Amazon is really far behind in LLMs despite having so many research scientists on staff.
> Why even lay off with mutual agreements paying severance?
PR
> Just fire people and deal with the consequences.
Or why not reduce headcount and not deal with the consequences? That's what they're trying to do.
Everyone has been bitter of tech workers for the better part of a decade. You're not going to lose points with the public for treating tech workers like normal workers.
Why fire people and pay them severance when you can get them to quit instead?
Of course, you're going to lose the people with talent who can find other jobs - and retain the ones who can't.
But seems like a trade they are eager to make.