Meta plans to begin firing around 5% of its workforce this week, with the company targeting its low-performing employees.
Employees worldwide will be sent termination notices beginning at 5 am on Monday, local time. Meta’s workers in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands are exempt “due to local regulations”.
“As we recently announced, company-wide performance terminations will take place on February 10 as part of the 2024 Performance@ cycle,” said human resources vice president Janelle Gale in an internal memo on Friday.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the layoffs will target low-performing employees ahead of the end of its performance cycle this month. “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” he said.
The layoffs are expected to impact around 3,600 workers in total. Those who placed in the lowest two categories in Meta’s employee assessment system will be automatically sent a termination notice.
Companies like Google and Microsoft are also dismissing large segments of their workforce at the start of 2025. Google offered a “voluntary exit program” to all United States-based employees on its Platforms and Devices team last month.
Meta separately plans to hire new engineers for sectors like machine learning, according to a memo from vice president of engineering for monetisation Peng Fan.
These workers will see an expedited hiring process, the memo said, and be brought onboard from 11 February to 13 March.
Meta’s share price (NASDAQ: META) closed at US$714.52 on Friday, up from its previous close at $711.99. Its market capitalisation is $1.81 trillion.
