https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/22/meta-layoffs/
Facebook parent company Meta is preparing for a fresh round of job cuts, deputizing human resources, lawyers, financial experts and top executives to draw up plans to deflate the company’s hierarchy, in a reorganization and downsizing effort that could affect thousands of workers.
Meta plans to push some leaders into lower-level roles without direct reports, flattening the layers of management between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the company’s interns, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on about internal matters. Other managers may end up overseeing a higher number of employees as their teams grow bigger. Some inside Meta expect employees whose jobs have been converted to eventually quit, trimming the company’s workforce by default.
In addition to targeting managers, the company is also considering more traditional cuts, including slashing some projects and jobs, the person said. These efforts, which are targeted at divisions across the company and around the world, may not happen on a single day, but will likely roll out across the company in the coming months.
The job eliminations arrive after Zuckerberg sought to reassure workers that he didn’t “anticipate more layoffs” after the company slashed 11,000 jobs — roughly 13 percent of its workforce — in November. At the time, Zuckerberg told remaining employees the company had made a substantial cut to “minimize the chance of having to do broad layoffs like this for the foreseeable future,” according to a recording of the companywide meeting reviewed by The Washington Post.
“I obviously can’t sit here and promise you that nothing will happen in the future because it’s a very volatile environment,” he added. “But what I can say is that for where we are right now, that’s was I foresee.”
But earlier this month, Zuckerberg proclaimed 2023 the “year of efficiency,” promising investors he would trim middle management and speed up the company’s decision-making, hinting at the possibility of more cuts.
Meta spokesman Dave Arnold declined to comment but directed The Washington Post to previous public comments from Zuckerberg in which he said the company needed to become more efficient.
“We closed last year with some difficult layoffs and restructuring some teams,” Zuckerberg told investors earlier this month. “When we did this, I said clearly that this was the beginning of our focus on efficiency and not the end.”
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