The divisions that will be affected include teams working on Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and virtual reality division Reality Labs, among others, according to Goler. She advised some employees not to enter the office unless it was essential for their role, according to the memo. The layoff decisions were made by senior executives as part of a broader restructuring effort, Goler added.
“It will be a difficult time as we say goodbye to friends and colleagues who have contributed so much to Meta,” she wrote. “It will take time for everyone – those leaving and those staying – to process tomorrow’s news, and I know the teams will come to each other with compassion, support and care.”
Within an hour, thousands of employees Tuesday night commented or reacted to Goler’s memo on an internal forum. Many workers displayed greeting and crying face emoticons, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company is expected to lay off what will likely be thousands of highly skilled employees — like engineers and other technical staff — who help build the company’s products, according to people familiar with the matter. The cuts are a rare moment of vulnerability for Meta engineers who have long enjoyed job security, high salaries, autonomy and the freedom to work on desired projects amid intense competition. tough for talent in Silicon Valley.
Meta spokesman Dave Arnold confirmed the memo was sent but declined to comment.
Employees affected will be notified on Wednesday morning, Goler wrote, although she added the process may differ for workers outside of North America. The meta executives are also expected to reveal on Wednesday how their divisions might be reorganized in the wake of the layoffs. The company will notify employees if they get a new manager, according to the memo.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month that the company would announce layoffs and a restructuring of tech teams in late April, followed by its reductions in support business roles in late May.
In total, Meta expects to cut about 10,000 jobs and will not fill the 5,000 previously planned job openings. In March, Zuckerberg hinted that the cuts would have a disproportionate impact on business support staff, arguing that the rebalancing will create an “optimal ratio of engineers to other roles” to ensure that “our business remains primarily technologists “.
The latest layoffs build on the November workforce reductions that cut 11,000 jobs, or about 13% of Meta’s workforce, in the first widespread layoffs in the company’s history.
The impending job cuts have caused anxiety among Meta employees, causing many to question the leadership and direction of the company in recent months, The Washington Post previously reported. Some remaining employees say they are actively looking for new jobs, while others worry about how their jobs might change in the future.
Meta faces a variety of business threats, including competition for advertising dollars and users of the short-form TikTok video network. Apple’s new privacy rules are hurting the company’s ability to deliver targeted ads. Meanwhile, some digital advertisers have cut spending amid rising inflation and slowing demand in the e-commerce market.
In the face of these challenges, Zuckerberg said one of the company’s top priorities is to become leaner and more efficient. Senior executives as well as people from human resources, legal and financial departments were asked to redesign the organizational charts of Meta’s internal organizations, according to people familiar with the process. question, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak on internal matters. In addition to the cuts, the company is also deflating the corporate hierarchy to reduce the number of management levels between interns and Zuckerberg, as well as canceling lower-priority projects.
Despite its economic difficulties, Meta – which changed its name from Facebook more than a year ago – says so continues to drive innovation. In February, Zuckerberg announced he was creating a new internal task force to “energize” the company’s investment in generative artificial intelligence. The company is also pushing its short-form video product, Reels, to compete with TikTok and plans to create another decentralized social media network that would compete with Twitter.
And Meta is still investing money in its big bet to create immersive digital realms known as the Metaverse. Zuckerberg thinks people will want to work, shop and socialize through devices powered by augmented and virtual reality, which he says will become the next big computing platform.
But Meta said it expects operating losses for Reality Labs, the division working on virtual reality offerings. The company has struggled to grow an audience for VR and said much of the technology needed to power the metaverse will take years to build.