Meta announces 8,000 layoffs amid AI-led workforce restructuring

Meta has laid off 8,000 employees, about 10 per cent of its total workforce, on Wednesday (April 20), within hours after asking its staff to work from home. The instruction to work from home was received by employees across the globe, including those in the US and UK.

Layoff notifications begin in waves

But what started as a plain work-from-home instruction soon became much more concerning with employees receiving layoff notifications in waves across the globe. The first messages were reportedly received by employees in Meta’s Singapore hub.

Also Read: Amazon plans second round of layoffs as part of 30,000 job cuts

According to a report by Bloomberg, affected employees in Singapore received emails at 4 am local time (1:30 am IST). The report further stated that lay off notifications are being sent in waves in line with respective time zones.

Restructuring alongside workforce cuts

The report further stated that Meta had about 78,000 employees before the layoffs and thousands of other employees are being shifted to departments.

Also Read: AI set to take over desk jobs in 18 months, warns Microsoft AI CEO amid scepticism

Meta’s Chief People Officer Janelle Gale stated in an internal Memo that 7,000 employees will be reassigned into new AI-native teams adding that about 6,000 open roles have been removed and managerial layers are being slashed.

"We're now at the stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams of pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership," stated Gale as quoted in reports.

AI push drives organisational changes

The engineering and product divisions of the tech giant are expected to be the most affected by the layoffs and more downsizing of the workforce is expected next year.

The development comes at a time Mark Zuckerberg has made AI Meta’s top priority with the company planning to invest USD 125-USD 145 billion this year, mostly on AI.

Also Read: TCS to offer 2 years’ severance package to laid-off employees: Report

According to reports, the company has been using a new internal tool to track movements and keystrokes to help train AI systems. This sparked an internal backlash with over 1,000 employees signing a petition opposing the move.

Meta employees, feel that the work from home order, were aimed at ensuring that the layoffs are carried out smoothly.

The development comes days after, Cisco Systems cut 4,000 jobs while Microsoft, Amazon, Disney and ASML all having announced layoffs or voluntary exits. Oracle in April, laid off about 20,000-30,000 employees through early-morning emails across the globe.