Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, announced the layoff of around 11,000 employees, or 13% of its global workforce.
According to Meta CEO Marck Zuckerberg, the company will reduce discretionary spending and extend its hiring freeze through Q1 2023, delaying hiring until after the specified time frame. The move is coming barely a week after Twitter cut its staff by 3,700.
In addition to the layoffs, the company is also adopting additional cost-cutting initiatives, according to Zuckerberg. Part of this cost-cutting includes laying off thousands of staff across the world, also affecting Nigerians in the diaspora and Africa. He commented that the business had started COVID-19 with excessive investment and was now working to fix it.
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In his words, he says: “Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history. I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We are also taking several additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1. I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry for those impacted,” he added.
Zuckerberg said the company also chose to cut costs from other sources before letting teammates go, adding that the layoffs were a final resort. Overall, he claimed, this will result in a significant cultural shift in the way the business is run.
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In the turn out of events, it also appears the affected employees aren’t leaving empty-handed, especially the ones based in the USA. Zuckerberg stated in an email to employees and on its website that he will pay 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks for every year of service, with no cap, pay for all remaining PTO time, everyone impacted will receive their vesting on November 15, 2022, cover the cost of healthcare for people and their families for six months, provide three months of career support with an external vendor, including early accretion.
According to Meta, international employees will receive comparable compensation to those in the United States in compliance with local laws.