The move is part of the company’s “Year of Efficiency” management theme
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced that it will be conducting another round of layoffs as early as this week, with the aim of cutting thousands of employees, this according to various US news agencies.
The move is part of the company’s “Year of Efficiency” management theme for 2023, according to a statement by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report on February 1.
The technology firm has already been giving buyout packages to managers and cutting “nonessential” teams, with the largest round of layoffs to date occurring in November 2022 when 13% of the workforce, more than 11,000 employees, were cut. In addition, the company has reduced discretionary spending and extended its hiring freeze through the first quarter of 2023.
The new round of layoffs was expected after Meta reportedly issued “subpar ratings” to thousands of employees in their recent performance reviews, with approximately 10% of workers receiving ratings indicating that they were underperforming. Furthermore, the social media giant cut a bonus metric to 85% of its target.
“We’ve always had a goal-based culture of high performance, and our review process is intended to incentivize long-term thinking and high-quality work, while helping employees get actionable feedback,” said a Meta spokesperson in response to the performance review ratings.
“In this new environment, we need to become more capital efficient,” Zuckerberg said in a letter to employees in November. “We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint. We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency. But these measures alone won’t bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I’ve also made the hard decision to let people go.”
Meta gave many of its employees a month to apply for different positions within the company in September, with re-organizing departments expected to be merely the first step toward larger staff reductions. In July, engineering managers at Meta were tasked with identifying anyone on their team who “needs support” and reporting them in an internal HR system.
Maher Saba, the company’s Head of Engineering commented: “If a direct report is coasting or is a low performer, they are not who we need; they are failing this company. As a manager, you cannot allow someone to be net neutral or negative for Meta.”
Meta’s upcoming round of layoffs will continue its efforts to become a more efficient organization and achieve its long-term goals.
