Meta plans additional layoffs across various divisions, report

Move is part of a downsizing and restructuring effort that could affect thousands of employees

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is said to be getting ready for a fresh wave of job reductions that will impact several divisions globally.

The move is part of a downsizing and restructuring effort that will impact numerous employees, potentially reaching into the thousands.

The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, that Meta intends to shift certain leaders into positions that do not involve managing others, thereby reducing the levels of management between company CEO Mark Zuckerberg and its interns.

In addition, some managers may be tasked with overseeing larger teams as the company aims to expand them.

Along with these changes, Meta is reportedly contemplating more conventional cost-cutting measures, including slashing certain projects and roles.

The proposed actions are anticipated to occur over a period of several months and will affect various divisions globally, rather than all at once.

According to the report, the upcoming wave of layoffs at Meta is expected to have a more significant impact on non-engineering positions. To facilitate the restructuring, Zuckerberg appears to be enlisting the support of human resources, legal, financial and top-level executives to devise plans aimed at reducing the company's hierarchical structure.

Notably, news of the impending layoffs at Meta comes just days after reports surfaced that the company had deliberately assigned "subpar ratings" to a large number of employees during their performance evaluations.

This development was seen as a signal that the company was preparing to cut more jobs in the near future.

In November 2022, Meta laid off approximately 11,000 employees, or 13% of its global workforce.

At that time, the company had attributed the job cuts to over-hiring and unfavourable macroeconomic conditions.

Following the cuts, Zuckerberg addressed the remaining employees, stating that the company had implemented significant cost-cutting measures to reduce the possibility of another large-scale layoff in the foreseeable future.

But earlier this month, Zuckerberg announced that 2023 would be the "year of efficiency" for Meta. He pledged to eliminate middle management positions and expedite the company's decision-making processes as part of its efforts to streamline operations and improve productivity.

"We closed last year with some difficult layoffs and restructuring some teams. When we did this, I said clearly that this was the beginning of our focus on efficiency and not the end. Since then, we've taken some additional steps like working with our infrastructure team on how to deliver our roadmap while spending less on capex," Zuckerberg said.

"Next, we're working on flattening our org structure and removing some layers of middle management to make decisions faster, as well as deploying AI tools to help our engineers be more productive. As part of this, we're going to be more proactive about cutting projects that aren't performing or may no longer be as crucial, but my main focus is on increasing the efficiency of how we execute our top priorities."

Wall Street investors last year expressed their frustration with Meta's finances, including its headcount and $10 billion annual investment into metaverse, as the economic slowdown started affecting its earnings.

Earlier this month, Meta said it expects its expenses for 2023 to be between $89 billion and $95 billion.

In recent months, several tech firms have implemented job cuts due to concerns over an economic downturn.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, revealed its plans to eliminate 12,000 jobs, while Microsoft announced a cut of around 10,000 employees. Amazon announced job cuts at the company in November and said that the cuts would continue in 2023.