Stressed Meta employees demand answers from Mark Zuckerberg as tech giant axes another 10,000 jobs
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was forced to play defense during a video call from the company Thursday when staff demanded to know how to trust him following another round of layoffs.
Facebook parent company Meta has confirmed it will cut 10,000 jobs in the coming months, on top of the 11,000 it cut in December, cutting its workforce by another 13 percent.
Zuckerberg answered “anonymous” questions from several employees during a meeting, including one from an employee who asked how employees could “trust leadership decisions after two rounds of layoffs.”
He replied, “I suspect the way you judge whether you trust me and whether you want to work at this company is whether we are succeeding and making progress toward the overall state of goals.”
The layoffs come after Zuckerberg previously warned Meta employees that 2023 would be a “year of efficiency.”
On a video call Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) was forced to play defense after an employee asked how he can be trusted to take charge following another round of layoffs
Zuckerberg answered “anonymous” questions from several employees at a meeting where he was asked by an employee how employees could “trust leadership decisions after two rounds of layoffs”
“Or you think you’re essentially getting me some good context about what we’re trying to do and that I’m being honest and giving you my best expectation that I can do things,” Zuckerberg added, according to Insider.
Another employee asked him what had changed since November, when Zuckerberg claimed the first round of layoffs would prevent further layoffs, as they did earlier this week.
Zuckerberg said that while it was a fair question, he was asking for the right to develop his opinion in a “volatile” economy.
“I suspect we’re not the only company going through multiple rounds of restructuring or something like that. I’m sure many more will follow in the long run,” Zuckerberg said.
He also said he understood that employee stress levels had increased due to the job cuts, but he promised the company was doing its best to be transparent.
Those affected by the layoffs are those working on lower priority projects and those providing additional layers of management, Zuckerberg said.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.
Combined, the cuts account for just under a quarter of the company’s 86,000 employees. Zuckerberg made the announcement on his Facebook page and shared the internal memo he sent employees.
In the US, the hiring teams will be the first to cut jobs. Affected technology teams will lose positions by the end of April and industry jobs will be cut in May.
Zuckerberg confirmed that there will also be international layoffs, but that they will be longer.
Overall, we expect to reduce our team size by approximately 10,000 people and close approximately 5,000 additional positions that we have not yet hired.
“This is going to be tough and there’s no escaping it. It means saying goodbye to talented and passionate colleagues who have been part of our success,” he said.
He replied, “I think the way you judge whether you trust me and whether you want to work at this company is whether we are succeeding and making progress toward the overall state of goals.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the layoffs in an announcement Tuesday morning
Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page that the layoffs were part of the company’s “year of efficiency.”
The layoffs are part of a broader strategy to make the company “more efficient and leaner”.
‘Leaner is better. Since we reduced our workforce last year, a surprising result is that many things have moved faster. In hindsight, I underestimated the indirect costs of lower priority projects,” he said.
He specified that removing layers of management had led to faster efficiency.
The market reacted positively to the news – shares rose 5.5 percent after the announcement.
In the future, Meta will have about 60,000 employees.
In his announcement, Zuckerberg pointed to the disastrous decline of technology stocks as one of the reasons for the tapering.
“Last year was a humbling wake-up call. The global economy was changing, competitive pressures increased and our growth slowed significantly.
“We cut budgets, reduced our real estate footprint and made the difficult decision to lay off 13% of our workforce.
“At this point, I think we need to prepare for the possibility that this new economic reality may persist for many years to come.
Higher interest rates lead to a leaner economy, more geopolitical instability leads to more volatility, and more regulation leads to slower growth and higher innovation costs.
“Given this outlook, we will need to work more efficiently than our previous headcount reductions to ensure success.
“In the face of this new reality, most companies will scale back their long-term vision and investments,” he said.
Now Meta will have about 60,000 employees. Company spokesmen did not clarify which region the cuts would apply to, or if they are global. Above, the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park
Yesterday, VP Nada Stirratt stepped down from her position at the company after five years
Meta’s troubles are in line with a wider round of layoffs in the tech industry, where growth once seemed insurmountable.
Microsoft has also launched a third round of layoffs as part of its previously announced 10,000 job cuts.
Twitter staff were rocked by brutal layoffs and chaos caused by Elon Musk’s hostile takeover of the company.
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