Meta, the company that operates Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus, appears that is not done firing people following the announcement that it will be letting 10K employees go. Towards the end of 2022, Meta announced a job cut that had affected 11,000 workers. The company had been going through a difficult year trying to appeal to both users and advertisers. It had also been in a platform battle with Tiktok, which it had failed to match. Meta had also failed on a massive scale to push the metaverse agenda, which saw the tech corporation lose billions of dollars.
In this latest development, Meta, through its CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that it is fully moving to a “Year of Efficiency” initiative, which is aimed at enhancing organizational efficiency and financial performance. To this end, Meta intends to terminate approximately 10,000 workers and eliminate 5,000 open positions.
In a detailed post addressed to his employees, Mark Zuckerberg announced the layoffs and restructuring process, which would involve streamlining the company’s structure and eliminating various management tiers.
Meta is set to unveil its restructuring plans in late April and May, and the layoffs are scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Although the job cuts are here, the company says it remains committed to developing a better technology firm by improving developer productivity and tooling, optimizing distributed work, and enhancing business performance to realize its long-term goals.
“As I’ve talked about efficiency this year, I’ve said that part of our work will involve removing jobs — and that will be in service of both building a leaner, more technical company and improving our business performance to enable our long-term vision. I understand that this update may still feel surprising, so I’d like to lay out some broader context on our vision, our culture, and our operating philosophy,” said Mark in a statement.
It is unclear how tech layoffs will shape the industry in 2023, as it appears that companies are not finished with their workforce reductions. Microsoft (10K workers) and Google (12K workers) have already laid off tens of thousands of employees, and others, like Chipper Cash, have let go of hundreds more, and Q1 has yet to end. It’s also unclear who will absorb the workers affected by Meta’s restructuring plan, as well as others. While the company has not provided specific details on this matter, some of the affected employees may be able to find employment opportunities in other tech companies or industries – but who is hiring?
