🔹 What’s Happening?
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is set to lay off 5% of its workforce starting Monday, February 11, 2024. The layoffs will primarily affect employees in the US and several other countries, except for Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, due to local labor regulations.
🔹 Key Details of the Layoff:
✔ Layoff Announcement Date: February 11-18, 2024
✔ Affected Employees: 5% of the workforce (thousands of employees)
✔ Reason: Performance-based terminations
✔ Office Status: Offices will remain open during layoffs
✔ Severance: Employees will receive severance as per Meta’s pre-set policies
🔹 Hiring Despite Layoffs?
Interestingly, Meta is still aggressively hiring machine learning engineers. According to a memo by Peng Fan (VP of Engineering, Monetization Division), Meta employees are encouraged to speed up hiring between February 11 and March 13, 2024 for key technical roles.
🔹 Meta’s Layoff History
📉 2022-2023 Layoffs:
✔ Meta laid off 21,000 employees (~25% of its workforce)
✔ Biggest layoff in company history
✔ Part of “Year of Efficiency” strategy by Mark Zuckerberg
📉 2024 Layoffs:
✔ Affects 5% of employees
✔ Classified as performance-based cuts
Meta has not released an official statement on these layoffs. However, if you’re an employee, it’s best to stay informed and prepare for potential changes.
