Meta lays off 5% of staff due to performance concerns, plans to hire replacements
Meta Platforms Inc. is cutting about 5% of its staff through performance-based terminations and plans to hire new people to fill their roles this year, according to an internal memo sent to all staff.
As of September, Meta employed about 72,000 people, so a 5% reduction could affect about 3,600 jobs. “I have decided to raise performance management standards and weed out low performers faster,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in the note posted to an internal bulletin board and reviewed by Bloomberg News .
“We typically manage people who don’t meet expectations over the course of a year, but now we will be making deeper cuts based on performance during this cycle,” he said. Meta’s operating cycle is expected to end in February, according to a person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss the company’s internal procedures.
According to the memo, affected workers in the US are expected to be notified on February 10, while those working in other countries will be notified later. Layoffs will only include employees who have worked at the company long enough to qualify for performance reviews. Zuckerberg told employees the company would “offer generous severance pay” in line with previous cuts.
Meta shares fell 2.1% at 1:39 p.m. in New York on Tuesday, continuing a decline that started Monday.
Zuckerberg declared 2023 a “productive year” for the company and later announced plans to lay off 10,000 positions. Now, he has a different tone. In a note to managers, he said performance-based cuts were aimed at ensuring the company had the “strongest talent” and could “attract new people in.”
Overall, Meta expects its headcount to decrease by 10% by the end of the current operating cycle. That total includes an additional 5% decrease due to labor attrition last year, according to a notice sent to managers.
Menlo Park, the California-based company that includes Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, among other businesses, will make headcount decisions for each organization based on their respective layoffs in last year.
Zuckerberg last week announced a series of changes at Meta, including disbanding the US-based fact-checking agency on its platforms, ending many diversity and inclusion efforts, and change the “hateful conduct” policy to allow for more flexibility in the language used to discuss immigrants, women, transgender and non-binary people. The moves coincide with Zuckerberg’s efforts to improve his relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, whose upcoming inauguration he plans to attend.
In his letter to employees, Zuckerberg said he is positioning the company for what he expects will be an “intense year” focused on artificial intelligence, smart glasses and the future of social media.
Meta is not alone in making performance-based job cuts at the start of the new year. Last week, Business Insider reported that Microsoft Corporation will be cutting jobs targeting underperforming employees.
