Recap: It’s been a tough year for Meta. The tech giant has faced falling stocks, hiring freezes, large turnovers, and a failed foray into the cryptocurrency space. In a recent Q&A with employees, CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed changes in company direction, leadership style and employee expectations. Unfortunately for meta-staff, the expectation is communicated that many of them may no longer be needed or welcome.
During the session, Zuckerberg bluntly told the meta workforce that “…some of you might decide this isn’t the place for you and that self-selection is fine with me.”
The statement underscores the company’s need to brace for additional economic difficulties and coincides with a reduction in planned hirings for 2022 of approximately 30%, from an initial 10,000 to between 6,000 and 7,000 hirings this year.
Zuckerberg’s focus on increased performance and reduced hiring aims to weed out underperforming employees and those unable to meet Meta’s new performance goals.
His statements follow those of Meta CPO Chris Cox, whose memo to employees before the meeting outlined Meta’s intent to “ruthlessly prioritize” and “run leaner, meaner, and better-executing teams.”
Despite the personnel and management changes, Cox also emphasized in his memo Meta’s need to increase the number of GPUs in its data centers to support its TikTok-style app reels and power the AI tasked with uncovering popular feeds from Facebook and Instagram the user is responsible accounts.
In addition to Meta’s current social media-based services, the company’s hardware division has focused on bringing a mixed reality headset to market. The next-gen headset, nicknamed “Cambria,” will reportedly feature 16 cameras, as well as eye and face-tracking capabilities. The headset is set to launch in the second half of 2022, with prices rumored to start at $799.
Many of the changes are designed to help Meta regain traction and drive revenue growth for the rest of the year and beyond. Zuckerberg’s and co.’s strong words may appeal to investors and shareholders, but will no doubt lead to Meta employees upgrading their resumes or looking for other safer, more stable opportunities. And by the sounds of it, they should. Statements like these are not just a warning of imminent change, but a sign that the changes are already here and sacrifices are inevitable.