Facebook to lay off 15% staff in massive restructuring amid slowdown

Facebook parent Meta is planning to lay off 15% of its workforce, according to several reports, in what is said to be a response to a decline in its revenue due to the slowing global economy.

As many as 12,000 staff on its rolls and hired on contract through companies like Accenture are estimated to be given the pink slip.

According to a report, managers have been asked to list 15% of their teams who are categorised as “needs support” or in other words, failing to meet performance goals. These staff members are in the 30-day ‘needs support’ list. They are subjected to new requirements under a “performance improvement plan” (PIP), which would result in their laying off.

A source told Insider that those who are “PIP-ed” need to find new job.

Last week, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees that they were freezing new hiring and blamed economic headwinds. He even warned, the company may be forced to undergo downsizing or restructuring.

“I had hoped the economy would have more clearly stabilized by now, but from what we’re seeing it doesn’t yet seem like it has, so we want to plan somewhat conservatively,” Zuckerberg told Bloomberg News.

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“Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” he was quoted as saying by multiple reports.

Facebook has lost over 500,000 users this year, resulting in huge loss of revenue, which was aggravated by Apple’s new privacy settings that caused a $10 billion loss.

Apparently, the software giant is using an algorithm to pick those who would lose their jobs. The algorithm has already forced 60 people to leave.