Meta Slashes Workforce: 3,600 Jobs Cut to Boost Performance

Facebook operator Meta has revealed that it will cut its workforce by about 5 percent or 3,600 employees. This is one of the measures that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has embarked on in a bid to “reset the bar on performance management” at Facebook. In his internal note, Zuckerberg underscored the need to aim for a far faster way to act on underperformance. 

"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,", he said. Performance-based Budget Cuts to start in February The axing is due to start on February 10 for employees based in the United States of America. To make such cuts, Zuckerberg put it in an appropriate perspective of what he deemed as the year of intensity as the company continued to embrace artificial intelligence, next-generation glass as a computing platform, and the future of social media. 

In another memo, Meta’s director of people development growth programs, Hillary Champion, explained that workers with "Met Some" or "Did Not Meet" performance ratings would be "automatically added to the performance termination list" (upon receiving their score). Meta expects to have a non-regrettable attrition of 10 % by adding last year’s 5% attrition and 5% this year. 

Concerns of the Employees and Critiques of the Review System

This announcement has overwhelmed employees leading to doubts regarding the effectiveness of the performance review system. As one employee put it, "I would say the ratings and process create marginally better than 'monkey's throwing darts' in terms of reflecting the actual performance and impact". That is why some people cast doubts on the time of the layoffs, especially after certain changes at Meta. The company has reduced its efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion work, and has let go of its third-party fact-checking team. "Teams aren't exactly strong when morale is low, and this is already a pretty rough ride over the last week," another employee stated.

Dispersal Payments and future staffing strategies 

Meta plans to reinstate the positions that were cut this year starting next year, 2025. Regarding restructuring its workforce, As per Champion's memo employees who would be let go would receive “generous severance packages” from the company. 

These latest cuts come after major downsizing took place in 2022 and 2023 when the company dismissed 21,000 employees. The current cycle also highlights Meta’s growing emphasis on performance control and operation improvement against a background of more significant sector issues.

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