Source: Justin Sullivan / Getty
Many companies in the tech space believe a recession is on the horizon, and to brace for the economic hardship, have begun laying off employees. Facebook, oops, we mean Meta, is one of those tech giants making that tough call to hand out pink slips.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the uncompromising news on Meta’s Newsroom, revealing that cuts will be coming to every organization within the company.
“Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history. I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go,” Zuckerberg begins.
He continues, “We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1.”
The billionaire also notes that he will “take accountability for these decisions” and how Meta came to them.
Zukerberg admitted to a huge misplay on his behalf by significantly increasing Meta’s investments due to the significant revenue growth during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended,” he noted in the statement.
Engadget reports that Meta will extend its hiring freeze and discretionary spending through the first quarter of 2023 on top of significantly downsizing its workforce.
Zuckerberg Explains How Employees Will Learn Their Fates
In the statement, Zuck explained how those poor employees would learn Meta no longer employs them.
“Everyone will get an email soon letting you know what this layoff means for you. After that, every affected employee will have the opportunity to speak with someone to get their questions answered and join information sessions,” he writes.
Zuckerberg revealed that in those emails, employees would know how much severance pay they can expect, PTO payouts, RSU vesting, how long their health insurance will cover them, three months of career services, and immigration support.
Those employees who have been notified that they are no longer Meta employees will still have access to their emails but will no longer have access to most Meta systems.
A stark difference in how Elon Musk laid off Twitter employees.
We can only expect to hear more news like this. Unfortunately, Snap Inc. let go of about 20% of its employees back in August.
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Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty
