Meta sign is seen at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, United States on November 14, 2022. … [+]
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, laid off about 11,000 workers back in November, roughly 13% of its staff and the largest layoffs in the company’s history. But the pain isn’t over, according to a new report from the Financial Times, because more job cuts are expected soon.
“Further cuts are expected around March, as the company is currently going through performance reviews of staff, three current and former employees said,” the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
The uncertainty around who may be getting the ax has led to low morale, according to the new report, and is starting to have an impact on operations. Annual budgets that typically would’ve been finalized by now are apparently still in limbo as managers are stuck waiting to see how large their teams may be next month.
And while founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised a “year of efficiency” on his last earnings call, the year has been anything but efficient, according to workers.
“The year of efficiency is kicking off with a bunch of people getting paid to do nothing,” one worker told the Financial Times.
Meta’s deep job cuts were welcomed by Wall Street, with the company’s stock soaring immediately after the layoffs were announced. But there’s still uncertainty about what the future holds for the social media giant, as Zuckerberg wrestles with his plans to introduce users into the Metaverse, a poorly defined online space no one really asked for. It’s difficult to force users to use anything if it’s not fun, and the Metaverse honestly looks like a pretty dull place at the moment.
But Meta isn’t the only company making cuts right now, as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates in a bid to fight inflation and throw people out of work. Amazon-owned Zappos laid off about 300 people last month and Microsoft announced a fresh round of layoffs on Thursday, as a host of other companies in the tech sector cut staff.
And large upheavals can cause chaos for the people who remain, many of whom live in limbo whenever a fresh round of layoffs is rumored to be just over the horizon.
“Two Meta employees familiar with the situation told the Financial Times that there had been a lack of clarity about budgets or future headcount in recent weeks. As a result, staff have complained that ‘zero work’ is getting done as managers have been unable to plan their coming workloads, the employees said,” according to the new report.
