Meta expected to cut staff via 'performance' layoffs
By: Jonathan Limehouse
USA Today
..... Mata is expected to carry out "performance terminations" this week, [02/17/2025] which will cut roughly 5% of its staff and repalce them with machine learning engineers, according to the tech company and multiple media reports.
.....
Notices regarding the layoffs, which were initially announced in mid-January, [2025] were set to go out to under performing employees in the U.S. and other countries on Monday [02/17/2025] morning, Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton told USA Today.
.....
Employees in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands will not be included in the staffing cuts "due to local regulations." However, those in more than a dozen other countries across Europe, Asia and Africa were to receive the termination notification February 11-18, [2025] Reuters reported, cutting an internal memo authored by Meta's Head of People Janelle Gale.
..... It is unclear how many people will be affected by the layoffs, but in September 2024, Meta employed around 72,000 people, so a 5% reduction could reduce staff by roughly 3,600 jobs, Bloomberg reported.
..... In January, [2025] when the cuts were originally announced, Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a note posted to an inter la message board, "I've decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster," Bloomberg reported at the time, citing an internal memo sent to employees.
.....
"We typically manage out people who aren't meeting expectations over the course of a year,: Zuckerberge said., per the outlet. "But now we're going to do more extensive preformatted-based cuts during this cycle."
..... Similar too past cuts, Zuckerberge said that the laid off employees would receive a "generous severance,' according to Bloomberg.
..... The goal of the performance-based cuts is to ensure Meta has the "strongest talent" and is capable of bring "new people in" as the company maneuvers through an "intense year" focused on artificial intelligence, smart glasses and the future of social media, Zuckerberg said in the memo.
..... A separate internal memo, posted by Meta's VP of engineering for Monetization Peng Fan on Friday, [02/14/2025] asked employees to assist with the hiring process for machine learning engineers and other "business critical engineering roles," Reuters reported.
.....
Hiring those replacement for layoff employees could take until mid-March, [2025] fan said, per the outlet.
..... "Thank you for your continue support in helping us achieve our accelerated hiring goals, and better align with our company's prioritizes for 2025," Fan said in the memo.
..... Contributing: Reuters