Meta's 'year of efficiency' continues, thousands more expected to be laid off

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

In November, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company was laying off 13% of its workforce, equating to approximately 11,000 in job losses. It seems that another employment bloodbath is in the cards.

A new wave of layoffs are being planned, according to Bloomberg. Thousands more employees are expected to get let go, with the fresh round hitting as soon as this week.

While earlier rounds were apparently an attempt to flatten the organization's structure, complete with managerial buyout packages and cutting entire teams thought to be non-essential, the new round may be more money-motivated. People familiar with internal matters at Meta claim the next round is being driven by financial targets, and is separate from "the flattening."

As part of the process, directors and vice presidents have been asked to produce lists of employees that they deem could be let go.

The speed of the layoffs is in part due to Zuckerberg himself, with those working on the initiative aiming to prepare it all before the CEO goes off for parental leave.

The layoff initiatives are apparently sapping morale of the workers who stay behind, with some describing heightened anxiety among colleagues. There are also fears over whether exiting workers will receive bonuses that are set to be distributed in March, which may not be awarded if they're outed beforehand.

Add in a hiring freeze that was instigated in May 2022 and blamed on Apple's App Tracking Transparency for costing Facebook $10 billion in lost revenue in 2022, and things are looking grim for the workforce.

It may be a "year of efficiency" for Meta's management, but to employees, it's continuing to be a year of fear and worry.