Meta Layoffs Seem Likely As Thousands Given Low Reviews: WSJ

• Meta gave about 10% of its staff performance reviews indicating they were underperforming, WSJ reported.
• The performance reviews signal that Meta could be gearing up for another round of layoffs.
• Meta let go of about 11,000 workers late last year and dubbed 2023 the “Year of Efficiency.”

Meta could be gearing up for more layoffs after the company gave “thousands” of workers low performance reviews, according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal. 

The publication cited people familiar with the issue who said the company anticipates the poor ratings will prompt some people to look for work elsewhere and leave the company in the weeks ahead.

About 10% of Meta staff received reviews that indicated they were underperforming, which is a higher number than in previous years, The Journal reported. Workers who receive two reviews that indicate they are underperforming in a row are put on an improvement plan, the publication said.

The report confirms Insider’s reporting from December that Meta wanted managers to rank twice as many people this year as low performing in their annual performance reviews, according to two people familiar with the matter.

When compared to last year’s review cycle, the quota for Meta’s lowest employee performance review categories — from “met most” expectations to “needs support” — will roughly double, Insider reported.

The Journal reported that because of the company’s hiring spree between 2020 and 2022, about half of its workers had never been through a performance review cycle at Meta. One former worker called the reviews a return to “OG Mark” or “old school Zuck,” the Journal said.

A Meta spokesperson told Insider that the performance reviews are intended to incentivize employees, while also giving them actionable feedback.

“Nothing about this year’s performance review process has changed or is different than what we’ve already communicated to employees,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The report comes after about 13% of the company were laid off late last year — the broadest cull the social media company has ever seen — and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared that 2023 would be a “Year of Efficiency” for the company. 

During the company’s earnings call earlier this month, Zuckerberg signaled that Meta was far from done with layoffs. 

“We closed last year with some difficult layoffs and when we did this, I said clearly that this was the beginning of our focus on efficiency and not the end,” Zuckerberg said during the call with investors.

At the time, the Meta CEO said he’s “flattening” the company’s structure as its grown to include more middle managers than made sense. Just over a week later, Bloomberg reported that the company had told some managers and directors to move into roles as individual contributors or leave the company.

Insider’s Kali Hays reported in January that Meta employees have been bracing for another round of layoffs amid signs of more cost-cutting measures at the company.

The company is one of many tech giants that have collectively laid off tens of thousands of workers over the past few months as they prepare for a looming recession. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon gave gone on similar cost-cutting sprees by reducing headcounts, as well as paring back office space and company perks.

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