In organizational push, Meta may fire more employees
A new wave of layoffs is expected to hit Meta employees. Per the Washington Post, non-engineering positions will be the most affected this time. Last year, the company laid off 13% of its workforce, or about 11,000 employees, to trim its costs and deal with macroeconomic pressure. The new round of job cuts could be due to similar factors.
Why does this story matter?
Meta did not have a fruitful 2022. The company was struggling due to unfavorable macroeconomic conditions and falling income. The company's shares were in free fall. However, Wall Street has begun to embrace Meta again due to the job cuts and its better-than-expected quarterly results. That should be motivation enough for Mark Zuckerberg and the company to make more cuts.
New round of layoffs will push leaders to lower-level roles
Meta's new round of layoffs will be aimed at flattening the company's organizational structure. The tech giant plans to push some managers to lower-level roles to flatten the layers of management between Zuckerberg and Meta's interns, the Washington Post reported. The CEO has reportedly deputized "human resources, lawyers, financial experts, and top executives" to develop strategies to flatten the organizational structure.
Zuckerberg is not a fan of Meta's organizational structure
Zuckerberg is not a fan of Meta's organizational structure. Last month, he told employees, "I don't think you want a management structure that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work." During an internal Q&A in January, he doubled down on the topic, saying managers should not be rewarded for creating large teams.
Last year's layoffs were not the end: Zuckerberg
While announcing the company's quarterly results, Zuckerberg said 2023 will be the "year of efficiency." He also indicated that Meta was far from done with layoffs. "We closed last year with some difficult layoffs, and when we did this, I said clearly that this was the beginning of our focus on efficiency and not the end," Zuckerberg said during the earnings call.
Meta gave 10% of employees subpar ratings
The report of Meta planning more layoffs comes in the backdrop of the company's latest performance review. It also gave signs of more belt-tightening by Meta. The company gave 10% or about 7,000 employees subpar ratings. The Wall Street Journal reported that some employees at Meta would see a low rating as a sign to look for new opportunities.
