Meta layoffs: Mark Zuckerberg announces 5% job cuts at Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp; “we typically …”

Meta announced plans to lay off approximately 3,600 employees, or 5% of its workforce, as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's push to "raise the bar on performance management" at the social media giant.

In an internal memo sent to staff, Zuckerberg emphasized the need for an accelerated approach to removing underperforming employees. "We typically manage out people who aren't meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we're going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle," he wrote.

The cuts, scheduled to begin February 10 for U.S.-based employees, come amid what Zuckerberg called "an intense year" focused on "building some of the most important technologies in the world — AI, glasses as the next computing platform, and the future of social media."

Hillary Champion, Meta's director of people development growth programs, detailed in a separate memo that employees receiving "Met Some" or "Did Not Meet" performance ratings would be "automatically added to the performance termination list." The company aims to reach 10% non-regrettable attrition, combining last year's 5% with an additional 5% this year.

The announcement sparked concern among employees, with some questioning the accuracy of the performance review system. "I would say the ratings and process creates marginally better than 'monkey's throwing darts' in terms of reflecting the actual performance and impact," one employee wrote on an internal message board.

Others worried about the timing of the cuts, which follow recent changes at Meta, including the rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and the disbanding of its third-party fact-checking program. "Teams aren't exactly strong when morale is low, and this is already a pretty rough ride over the last week," another employee noted.

Meta plans to backfill the terminated positions in 2025, and affected employees will receive "generous severance packages," according to Champion's memo.

The latest cuts follow previous layoffs of 21,000 workers between 2022 and 2023.
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