Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off 2023 by calling it the company’s “year of efficiency” after 2022, which he has said was a “challenging year.”
After nearly six weeks after his initial announcement, Zuckerberg issued an update in March on Meta’s efficient year — starting with 10,000 additional layoffs.
In a letter to employees, Zuckerberg highlighted that the main goals are to become an overall better company and to minimize costs as a way to execute the company’s long-term vision. He also gave a detailed timeline of what employees should expect in the coming months: Those on the recruiting team would know if they’d been laid off that week, tech workers will be informed of restructuring and layoffs in April, and business groups will find out in May. In a small number of groups, restructuring and layoffs might take until the end of the year.
On Wednesday, the latest round of layoffs took place right on schedule and affected technical workers in roles such as engineering, graphics and user experience.
“Well, friends, I’m sad to share I was a part of today’s round of layoffs at Meta,” one affected worker wrote on LinkedIn. “I’m about halfway through my maternity leave and extremely bummed to have to start a job search.”
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The restructuring and layoffs intend to reduce the size of the company by approximately 10,000 people, and it will close about 5,000 job openings that haven’t been filled yet.
Zuckerberg wrote in the March announcement that the sharing of a layoff timeline is his attempt to be more transparent. “I recognize that sharing plans for restructuring and layoffs months in advance creates a challenging period,” he said. “But last fall, we heard feedback that you wanted more transparency sooner into any restructuring plans, so that’s what I’m trying to provide here.”
