San Francisco, Jul 30 (IANS): Amazon has reduced its direct workforce by nearly 1 lakh, the largest sequential drop in its history, primarily at its fulfillment centres and distribution network.

The e-commerce behemoth still employs over 15 lakh people, highest in the tech world.

According to Brian Olsavsky, Chief Financial Officer, Amazon plans to become more cautious in its hiring at its headquarters and other facilities going forward.

"I think it's right for people to step back and question their hiring plans. We're doing that, as well. I don't think you'll see us hiring at the same pace we did over the last year, or the last few years," he told reporters after the company declared its quarterly results.

On call with analysts, Olsavsky said that the company added 14,000 workers in Q1.

"Prior year, we had reduced our net headcount by 27,000. So we're pretty transparent about the fact that we had hired a lot of people in Q1 for the coverage of the omicron variant," he informed.

Luckily, that variant subsided, and the company was left with a higher headcount position.

"We've -- that has come down through adjusting our hiring levels and normal attrition, and is pretty -- was pretty much resolved by the end of April or early part of May. So that is dominating the quarter-over-quarter reduction in headcount," he added.

Amazon said that right now, it sees a stabilisation in the workforce.

"It was a very difficult labour period in the second half of last year, and it didn't arrive kind of quickly out of nowhere. So we're certainly diligent on that and making sure we have a good workplace and an environment that will attract employees," said Olsavsky.

Amazon will continue to add headcount in a "very targeted" way.