Mark Zuckerberg announced earlier this year that he wants to lay off employees from Meta. He cites the reason that these employees are not delivering the performance that was expected. However, former employees have also spoken out, saying the layoffs have a different reason.
How many employees does Mark Zuckerberg want to lay off? In January, Mark Zuckerberg announced in a memo to employees (via Bloomberg) that he wants to lay off nearly 5% of Meta’s workforce. That would be about 3600 employees.
According to Bloomberg, Zuckerberg aims to specifically target employees who do not meet Meta’s work expectations and perform worse than desired. However, former employees have also commented, saying it’s not due to a lack of performance.
People need to know that we are not underperformers
What do employees say about the layoffs? Business Insider spoke with several employees about the memo and the planned layoffs. The sources wanted to remain anonymous, so the statements cannot be confirmed. The interviewed employees paint a different picture of the situation.
One of the respondents was said to be shocked. According to Business Insider, he even showed documents indicating that he had met or exceeded expectations in recent years. Another employee was away due to parental leave and was likely laid off, despite previously being praised for his performance.
One employee said regarding the layoffs according to Business Insider: The hardest part is that Meta publicly states it is laying off underperforming employees, so it feels like we have a scarlet letter on our backs […] People need to know that we are not underperformers.
Generally, the accounts suggest that the anonymous employees consistently received positive feedback before they were suddenly laid off.
On teamblind.com, a site where people can rate their employer, a supposed employee from Meta spoke out. He said that countless employees were reportedly laid off who were on parental leave or taking medical leave, even though they had good performance: Apparently, it was more about money than performance. Be cautious if you join this company.
All the reports from employees are anonymous, so the allegations cannot be substantiated. Nevertheless, there is a large number of employees making such claims. Tech billionaires are constantly under criticism, also for their behavior toward employees and spreading misinformation. The latter was also criticized by a Nobel laureate: Nobel laureate warns about Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg: “They lack moral values”
