Meta to cut roughly 3,600 jobs, targeting lowest performers

By Riley Griffin

Meta Platforms Inc. is cutting roughly 5 per cent 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 employees. 

As of September, Meta employed about 72,000 people, so a 5 per cent reduction could affect roughly 3,600 jobs. “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in the note posted to an internal message board and reviewed by Bloomberg News. 

“We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year,” he said, “but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle.” Meta’s performance cycle is expected to wrap up in February, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing internal company procedures. 

Affected workers in the US are expected to be notified on Feb 10, while those based in other countries will be informed at a later date, according to the memo. The terminations will only include staff who have been at the company long enough to be eligible for a performance review. Zuckerberg told employees that the firm would “provide generous severance” in line with past cuts.

Meta shares fell 2.1 per cent at 1:39 pm in New York on Tuesday, continuing a decline that began Monday. 

Zuckerberg had declared 2023 the company’s “year of efficiency” and announced plans then to eliminate 10,000 positions. Now, he’s taken on a different tone. In a note to managers, he said that the performance-based cuts are aimed at ensuring the company has the “strongest talent” and is able to “bring new people in.” 

Altogether, Meta expects its headcount to be down 10% by the end of the current performance cycle. That total includes an additional 5% reduction from attrition last year, according to the message to managers.

The Menlo Park, California-based company that includes Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, among other businesses, will make headcount decisions for each organization based on their respective number of reductions last year.

Zuckerberg last week announced a series of changes at Meta, including disbanding US-based fact-checking on its platforms, ending many of its diversity and inclusion efforts, and changing its “hateful conduct” policy to allow more flexibility around language used to discuss immigrants, women, and transgender and nonbinary people. The moves coincide with Zuckerberg’s efforts to improve relations with President-elect Donald Trump, whose forthcoming inauguration he plans to attend.

In the note to staff, Zuckerberg said he’s positioning the company for what he expects to be an “intense year” focused on artificial intelligence, smart glasses and the future of social media.

Meta isn’t alone in making performance-based job cuts at the start of the new year. Last week, Business Insider reported that Microsoft Corp. would be making job cuts targeting underperforming employees.