Meta, which operates social media platforms Instagram and Facebook, raised eyebrows earlier this year when it warned employees in a memo that it plans to make vital cuts to its workforce this year.
In the memo, sent to employees in January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will eliminate about 3,600 jobs, approximately 5% of its workforce, as it doubles down on investing in artificial intelligence, developing its smart glasses, and “the future of social media.”
He said the cuts would be based on performance, stating that the company will have an “intense year.”
“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” said Zuckerberg in the memo. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle.”
Over the past few months, Meta’s layoff plan has dramatically unfolded:
- The first round of Meta’s layoffs kicked off on Feb. 10, impacting almost 4,000 employees in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
- Meta later faced backlash from laid-off employees who claimed they weren’t low performers at the company since they received “At or Above Expectations” ratings in their 2024 mid-year reviews.
- In April, Meta laid off over 100 employees in its Reality Labs division, affecting employees who develop virtual reality, headsets, and other wearable technology.
- In June, Meta reportedly sent a memo to its managers instructing them to give 15% to 20% of employees who are part of large teams “below expectations” performance rating in their mid-year performance reviews, which started on June 16, to help it “make exit decisions.”
Meta makes another major round of job cuts
Meta recently conducted another round of layoffs right before the holidays, impacting 600 employees in its Meta Superintelligence Labs division, which is responsible for developing AI technology.
The move comes after Meta finalized an almost $15 billion investment in Scale AI in June, leading to Scale CEO Alexandr Wang becoming Meta’s chief AI officer.
In a memo to employees on the cuts to the Meta Superintelligence Labs division, Wang said that having fewer workers in the department will make decision-making easier, according to a recent report from Business Insider.
Related: Meta’s recent layoffs take an unexpected turn
“By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact,” wrote Wang.
He also said the company is “supporting the majority of those impacted in finding new roles at the company.”
The layoffs follow a growing trend in corporate America that is raising eyebrows. So far this year, 39% of companies have already conducted layoffs, according to a recent survey from Resume.org, and 35% expect to reduce headcount before the year ends.
More Labor:
- Intel quietly pulls back major employee commitment amid troubles
- Google quietly doubles down on a controversial workplace trend
- Samsung cracks down on an alarming workplace problem
“AI adoption is going to reshape the job market more dramatically over the next 18 to 24 months than we’ve seen in decades,” said Kara Dennison, head of career advising at Resume.org, in the survey.
“We’ll see continued displacement of routine and process-driven roles as well as entirely new categories of work centered on AI oversight, data ethics, prompt engineering, and human-AI collaboration.”
In the memo to employees, Wang said despite recent layoffs, Meta “will continue to hire industry-leading Al-native talent.”
Here is the full email Wang sent to employees about layoffs
“Earlier today, we made some changes to MSL to move us toward being the most agile and talent-dense team in the industry. By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact.
It’s never an easy decision to say goodbye to colleagues. These are talented people who have worked extremely hard and contributed to our Al effort. Anyone in North America whose role was impacted has already been notified. Those who may be impacted in EMEA have been notified and remain subject to consultation.
We are supporting the majority of those impacted in finding new roles at the company. We have spun up a tiger team of recruiters to help this group find the right match for their expertise and land in roles through an expedited hiring process.
This by no means signals any decrease in investment. In fact, we will continue to hire industry-leading Al-native talent. Our goal is to enable MSL to move faster. We remain excited about the models we are training, our ambitious compute plans, and the products we are building, and I’m confident in our path to superintelligence.”
Related: Spectrum makes a harsh decision after major customer losses
