Meta to cut 10,000 staff

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has announced that it will cut 10,000 jobs.

It will be the second series of mass redundancies from the tech giant, which laid off 11,000 employees in November 2022, reports BBC.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts would be “tough”, and formed part of a “year of efficiency”.

In addition to the 10,000 jobs being lost, 5,000 open roles at the company will be left unfilled.

Mr Zuckerberg told staff in a memo he believed the company had suffered “a humbling wake-up call” in 2022 when it saw a slowdown in revenue.

He cited higher interest rates in the US, global geopolitical instability and increased regulation as some of the factors affecting Meta.

“I think we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that this new economic reality will continue for many years,” he said.

The cuts come as companies including Google and Amazon have been grappling with how to balance cost-cutting measures with the need to remain competitive.

At the start of this year, Amazon announced it planned to close more than 18,000 jobs because of “the uncertain economy” and rapid hiring during pandemic, while Google’s parent company Alphabet made 12,000 cuts.

According to layoffs.fyi, which tracks job losses in the tech sector, there have been more than 128,000 job cuts in the tech industry so far in 2023.

Timeline for cuts

Mr Zuckerberg said the recruitment team would be the first to be told whether they were affected by the cuts, and would find out on Wednesday. He also outlined when other teams would know about their futures.

“We expect to announce restructurings and layoffs in our tech groups in late April 2023, and then our business groups in late May 2023,” he wrote in a memo to employees on Tuesday.

“In a small number of cases, it may take through to the end of the year to complete these changes.

“Our timelines for international teams will also look different, and local leaders will follow up with more details.”

Reducing management and hybrid working

Mr Zuckerberg said there would be no new hires until the restructuring was complete, and said he aimed to make the company “flatter” by “removing multiple layers of management”.

He also dedicated a section of the correspondence to hybrid work, and said software engineers who joined Meta in-person performed better than those who joined remotely - indicating that this would change as part of the company’s “year of efficiency”.

“Engineers earlier in their career perform better on average when they work in-person with teammates at least three days a week,” he added.

“We’re focusing on understanding this further and finding ways to make sure people build the necessary connections to work effectively.

“In the meantime, I encourage all of you to find more opportunities to work with your colleagues in person.”