Facebook parent Meta plans to sever ties with workers unable to meet newly increased benefit expectations as the company prepares for an economic downturn, CEO Mark Zuckerberg bluntly announced this week.
Zuckerberg’s candid admission came during a Q&A with staffers, during which he warned that a recent market slump “could be one of the worst downturns we’ve seen in recent history.”
“Realistically, there’s probably a lot of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Zuckerberg said during the meeting, according to Reuters.
“Part of my hope in raising expectations and having more aggressive targets and turning up the heat a bit is that I think some of you might decide this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is OK for.” me,” added Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg pointed out that Meta plans to slow its engineering hiring plans by at least 30% this year — adding about 6,000 or 7,000 employees instead of the 10,000 originally expected. Some positions currently vacant will remain vacant as Meta increases pressure on current employees.
The Post has reached out to Meta for further comment on Zuckerberg’s remarks.
The company was rocked last month by the surprise resignation of COO Sheryl Sandberg, Zuckerman’s longtime deputy and mastermind behind Facebook’s booming growth from ad revenue.
Meta confirmed it imposed a hiring freeze in May after the company grew just 7% to $27.9 billion in the first quarter. That was the slowest growth rate since Facebook went public. Company officials said no layoffs were planned
Zuckerberg previously downplayed Meta’s high employee turnover during the company’s April conference call.
“I don’t think that kind of volatility that companies face is always that unhealthy to make sure you have the right people in companies,” Zuckerberg said at the time.
Meta shares are down more than 50% so far this year as Zuckerberg seeks to reinvent its social media giant as the Metaverse company. As The Post previously reported, some Meta employees have grumbled that the company’s stock slump is destroying the value of their stock options.
Meta’s struggles coincided with a broader downturn in the tech sector. The Nasdaq has slipped into bear territory, posting its worst first-half performance on record.
According to Reuters, Chris Cox, Meta’s chief product officer, stressed the seriousness of the situation in a separate memo to workers ahead of Zuckerberg’s comments.
“I have to stress that we are in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce. We need to operate flawlessly in a slower growth environment where teams shouldn’t expect a large influx of new engineers and budgets,” Cox wrote.