Meta Platforms may soon be carrying out “quiet layoffs” at Facebook to slash its headcount as global headwinds and plummeting ad spending pose severe problems for Big Tech firms.
A Business Insider report said that before a recent weekly Q&A session between the staff and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, executives told directors across the company they should select at least 15% of their teams to be labeled as “needs support” in an internal review process.
This selective restructuring hints at a possible layoff of about 15% of the workforce, or about 12,000 employees. According to the report, the potential layoffs were revealed last week in a post by a Meta worker on Blind – an app popular with tech workers that requires a valid company email address to use anonymously.
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“This 15% will likely be put on PIP (performance improvement plan) and be let go,” the person wrote, prompting hundreds of comments from other Meta workers, who debated how many people would be sacked.
In Facebook’s employee-review process, someone “in need of support” is considered to be performing below the benchmark goals. Such employees are put on a PIP, which, more often than not, results in layoffs.
With so many people deemed to be underperforming and some being given 30 days to find a new position at the company or leave, one staffer said Meta was conducting “quiet layoffs.” Last week, Meta announced a pause in hiring and subsequent restructuring as recession fears loomed large across the globe.
