Meta to start laying off employees worldwide from Monday
What's the story
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, will embark on a global layoff drive starting this Monday.
The news was revealed in internal memos seen by Reuters.
Janelle Gale, Meta's Head of People, said notifications will be sent to employees losing their jobs from 5:00am local time on Monday in most countries, including the US.
Exemptions
Layoffs to bypass certain European countries
Notably, the layoff plan will not impact workers in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands owing to local regulations.
Meanwhile, staff members in over a dozen other nations across Europe, Asia, and Africa are tipped to receive their notifications between February 11 and February 18.
When approached by Reuters, a Meta representative declined to comment on these posts.
Strategy
Layoff strategy targets 'lowest performers'
Last month, Meta confirmed its plans to cut roughly 5% of its "lowest performers" and refill some of those positions.
In her Friday memo, Gale described these layoffs as "performance terminations." The term was first reported by The Information.
Unlike previous company-wide layoffs, Meta wants to keep its offices open on Monday and will not issue any updates providing further details on the decisions.
Hiring push
Meta accelerates hiring for machine learning engineers
Along with the layoffs, Meta is also fast-tracking its hiring for machine learning engineers and other "business critical" engineering roles.
This was revealed in a separate memo shared by Peng Fan, the VP of Engineering for Monetization at Meta.
The fast-tracked hiring process shall be conducted between February 11 and March 13, Fan said in his post.