Meta cutting 5% of workforce based on performance

Facebook parent Meta on Tuesday announced that it’s planning to cut back its workforce with the reductions focused on the lowest performers, according to an internal memo sent to Meta employees.

“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in the memo. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

“We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle,” he said.

Meta said that it’s planning to reach 10% of “non-regrettable” attrition before the end of its current performance cycle. That figure includes about 5% non-regrettable attrition from 2024, according to the memo.

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“This means we are aiming to exit approximately another 5% of our current employees who have been with the company long enough to receive a performance rating,” Meta said in the memo.

Zuckerberg said that employees affected by the cutbacks will receive “generous severance” from Meta.

The company plans to hire new employees for the roles vacated through performance-oriented attrition.

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Meta’s move comes after Zuckerberg announced last week that the social media platform is ending its fact-checking service and will instead turn to a community notes-like system similar to what Elon Musk implemented at X, formerly Twitter.

The social media giant has cut back its workforce on several occasions in recent years. 

In 2022, Meta restructured its workforce which resulted in a reduction of about 11,000 jobs.

Zuckerberg dubbed 2023 the “Year of Efficiency” at Meta, during which it eliminated around 10,000 roles at the company.

Reuters contributed to this report.