Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is preparing to reduce its global workforce by approximately 5%, as part of a strategy to remove “low performers more quickly.”
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO, announced in a memo to staff that the company would speed up its usual performance-based cuts in anticipation of a challenging year.
The roles will be “backfilled” in 2025, he noted.
Meta, which employs around 72,000 people globally, did not specify how the cuts would be distributed worldwide.
US-based employees affected will be notified by February 10, with others outside the US to be informed later.
Zuckerberg stated, “This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams,” adding that he had decided to “raise the bar on performance management” and “move out low performers faster.”
The layoffs come after other major decisions by Zuckerberg, including the discontinuation of the company’s fact-checking and diversity programs.
Typically, performance-based layoffs at Meta occur over the course of a year, but this year the process will be expedited.
Around 3,600 workers could be impacted, with Zuckerberg promising “generous severance” packages.
These cuts follow similar measures in 2022 and 2023, when Meta laid off 11,000 and 10,000 employees, respectively, in a cost-cutting initiative dubbed the “year of efficiency.”
Zuckerberg also seems to be shifting his public image.
In a recent podcast with Joe Rogan, he discussed the need for more “masculine energy” in companies and his interest in martial arts, which he enjoys for its ability to help him express himself more fully than in his corporate role.
“When you’re running a company, people typically don’t want to see you being like this ruthless person who’s just like I’m going to crush the people I’m competing with,” Zuckerberg explained.
“But when you’re fighting, it’s like no.” He added that seeing him compete in martial arts made people realize, “That’s the real Mark.”
Source-BBC
