- Meta said in internal memos that it would cut 5% of its workforce, focusing on lower performers.
- Employees asked how the cuts would work. One criticized the announcement after a “very rough” week.
- Some employees questioned the accuracy of internal performance appraisals.
Mark Zuckerberg told Meta employees on Tuesday that the company would make “extensive” cuts to low performers, affecting about 5% of the company’s workforce. For some employees, the cuts raised questions about how performance would be measured and concerns about morale.
Employees posted their feedback on an internal message board, seen by Business Insider. Some asked how the cuts would work in practice. While some employees expressed support for raising Meta’s standards, others asked for specifics about the process, especially at a time when Meta is cutting back on third-party fact-checking and reversing DEI policies.
“This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams,” Zuckerberg told staff in a company-wide memo Tuesday. He said that while the company would typically weed out low performers over the course of a year, it would speed up that process for this review cycle.
A separate memo sent to Meta managers, a copy of which BI reviewed, said the company planned to cut about 5% of its workforce. Meta said in its latest earnings report that it employed 72,404 people globally at the end of September, meaning the cuts would be the equivalent of around 3,600 roles.
some employees said they support the decision to raise company standards. One wrote, “I understand there is a need to raise the bar and I absolutely support that.” Others wanted to know more about how the cuts would be implemented.
“How much of this decision will be based on performance and how much will be based on the scope of the investment,” asked one employee. Another asked if the cuts would affect “research work” at Meta.
“The Year of Intensity?” Another staffer wrote, jokingly referring to Meta’s “year of efficiency”.
“How will HR determine the level of optimism about someone’s future at the company?” said another question, which appeared to refer to Zuckerberg’s comment that Meta “will not manage all those who did not meet expectations for the last period if we are optimistic about their future performance.”
Zuckerberg said US employees affected by the cuts will be notified by February 10, while those in other territories may take longer. At least 664 employees reacted to Zuckerberg’s post with a shocked emoji, 386 with a like and 66 with a crying emoji.
It’s been an eventful week for Meta employees. On January 7, Zuckerberg announced that the company would replace third-party fact-checkers with a community annotation system and that it planned to return political content to the news feed. On Friday, staff were informed that Meta would be canceling its DEI programs.
“Teams aren’t exactly strong when morale is low, and this has already been a pretty rough ride over the past week,” one employee wrote on an internal message board Tuesday after the layoffs were announced.
A spokesperson for Meta did not comment on the letters and employee feedback.
Monkeys ‘throw darts’
To determine which employees it can cut, Meta will use its internal performance review program, which rates employees in buckets such as “failed to meet expectations” and “exceeded expectations.”
One employee writing in the internal channel expressed skepticism that the performance review system was an accurate way to do this. “I would argue that the ratings and process do little better than ‘monkey darts’ in terms of reflecting actual performance and impact for a large majority of people,” they wrote.
Others asked whether the changes would apply to low-performing managers and how people on maternity or mental health leave would be affected.
“How do we balance the false positives of people who have context for the products and are just half unlucky with the cost of raising new people who have an even greater chance of not being able to perform at the desired bar ?” asked another employee.
Janelle Gale, Meta’s vice president of human resources, told employees in a comment that an FAQ would be posted later Tuesday “with additional information about how this process will work.”
One employee suggested that LGBTQ+ employees may have “additional concerns” about their performance evaluations.
“As the company builds toward wider cognitive diversity, is there any weight for LGBTQ+ metamates in these perfect reviews or who is afforded the disconnect?” they wrote. “I just want to check if that will be a factor.”
“Absolutely not,” Gale said. “This is in no way intended to target the LGBTQ+ community or any group. Objectivity and integrity are core aspects of the Perf@ process and we work hard to remove bias from our systems. We do not tolerate discrimination in any form. .”
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