Meta Platforms Inc. is planning to cut around 5% of its workforce this year through performance-based terminations and plans to hire new talent to replace them, Bloomberg reported citing an internal memo sent to all employees.
As of September, Facebook's parent company employed about 72,400 people, so a 5% cut would result in around 3,600 employees losing their jobs.
“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in the memo. Performance-based cuts are important to ensure the company has the “strongest talent" and can “bring new people in", he added.
The affected employees will be notified by February 10.
Meta’s Reasoning
The 5% workforce cut is a part of Meta’s plan to achieve 10% “non-regrettable" attrition by the end of the current performance cycle, the memo read.
Employees who have been with Meta long enough will receive a performance review and those found underperforming will be affected. Meta CEO assured that the impacted employees will receive “generous severance."
This move follows a series of policy shifts at Meta, including the discarding of its US fact-checking program, which had been criticised widely as censorship. Zuckerberg also revealed that there are some changes to the content moderation policies. Platform restrictions on divisive topics such as immigration and gender will be relaxed while rules on hate speech will be loosened, the CEO announced.
Meta’s Layoff History
In November 2022, the company conducted the first major layoff in its history, cutting approximately 11,000 employees (about 13% of its workforce). This was followed by another significant round in March 2023, where Meta announced it would cut about 10,000 more jobs and close around 5,000 open positions.
These layoffs were part of what Zuckerberg called the company's "Year of Efficiency" in 2023, aimed at making Meta leaner and more efficient.
The cuts affected various departments, including recruiting, tech teams, and business groups. Zuckerberg cited several factors for these decisions, including increased competition, a challenging advertising market, and the need to focus on key priorities like AI and the metaverse.
Meta’s Plan Ahead
Meta has invested billions into AI-related infrastructure, resulting in its expenses expected to grow this year. Many tech companies, including Cisco and IBM have also been looking to redirect investments into artificial intelligence technology.
He announced plans to replace mid-level software engineers with artificial intelligence by 2025, hinting at a major shift in how the company is approaching software development.
