An Amazon grocery executive says the company’s internal bureaucracy is “ridiculous” and that the retail giant is working to reduce it.

During an internal meeting last week with Amazon’s grocery department, a team member inquired about how the company planned to streamline decision-making processes, which currently require “multiple levels” of approval. Earlier this week, Business Insider reported details of the meeting after obtaining a recording.

Jason Buechel, Amazon’s Vice President of Worldwide Grocery and Whole Foods CEO, addressed the question by describing the internal bureaucracy as “ridiculous” and noted that Amazon is working on expediting procedures in several areas, such as approvals for spending. Buechel mentioned that the bureaucratic hurdles are slowing down Amazon’s grocery operations, creating obstacles for the company.

“What I’ve heard from team members and employees is that we’re ultimately wasting time,” Buechel stated during the meeting. “The delay in decisions and approvals is hindering some of our projects and initiatives.”

^{Jason Buechel. Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Concordia Summit}

Amazon’s emphasis on reducing bureaucracy extends up to CEO Andy Jassy. In September, alongside a return-to-office mandate, Jassy introduced a “bureaucracy mailbox” for employees to submit examples of where they saw unnecessary processes or rules at the company. By November, that inbox had received more than 500 emails and Amazon had acted on more than 150 suggestions.

Jassy also announced in September that the company would eliminate excess layers of middle management by the end of March. Amazon achieved this goal by pausing the hiring of new managers, demoting some managers, and requiring existing managers to increase their number of direct reports.

At a leaked all-hands meeting in November, Jassy said that “one of the reasons” he was still at Amazon was “because it’s not a political or bureaucratic place.”

“The reality is that the [senior leadership team] and I hate bureaucracy,” Jassy said at the meeting.

Amazon has laid off more than 27,000 employees since 2022 to cut costs, and recently conducted layoffs in various departments. The retail giant cut dozens of jobs in its Goodreads site and Kindle division earlier this month.

Amazon’s grocery business faced layoffs earlier this week when the company laid off at least 125 employees who worked in a Fresh grocery store in Federal Way, Washington. An Amazon spokesperson told The Seattle Times that the employees had the option to transfer to similar roles at nearby sites.

Amazon employs 1.56 million full-time and part-time employees.