In 2023, Meta initiated a major organizational overhaul under its “Year of Efficiency” strategy, emphasizing a focus on streamlining operations and retaining key talent.
Since the beginning of 2024, Meta has implemented three rounds of layoffs, with the most recent occurring in October, resulting in significant restructuring across multiple teams. The number of employees that were cut in the latest round of layoffs has not yet been revealed.
Staff at WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs—Meta’s virtual reality division—experienced restructuring aimed at realigning resources with the company’s long-term strategic objectives and location strategy.
No One Is Safe
In an emailed statement released to the press, a Meta spokesperson revealed that some teams were moved to different locations. At the same time, some employees were shuffled to different roles due to their previous roles being eliminated.
Among those affected was Jane Manchun Wong, a software engineer renowned for leaking Meta’s not-yet-released features and landing a spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2022.
“I’m still trying to process this but I’m informed that my role at Meta has been impacted,” she wrote on her Threads account. “Thank you to everyone, especially my Threads and Instagram teammates, for my wild journey at Meta.”
Meta’s CTO, Andrew Bosworth, and Instagram head Adam Mosseri celebrated her hiring at Instagram, but it appears that even C-level recognition wasn’t enough to save her role in the sweeping cuts.
Only Threads—Meta’s X analog—was confirmed to have not been impacted by the reorganization.
TechCrunch reports that some employees were notified about the layoffs in advance and were presented with alternative roles under new contracts. While some accepted the new positions, others chose to take a severance package instead.
Beyond the Meta Layoffs
In a separate but concurrent incident, Meta also laid off dozens employees for violating its meal voucher policy.
Meta staff are given $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and $25 for dinner in vouchers, intended for use with GrubHub orders. However, these ex-staff breached policy by using the voucher for other items like toothpaste or wine glasses, sharing it with others, or going over budget.
According to posts on the anonymous work social message board, Blind, some offenders stopped after being warned to desist but still got fired after three months. Others claimed to have gotten no warning and were surprised by the layoff.
“Hiring Like Crazy”
Posters on Blind also note that the company is still “hiring like crazy.“
In a February earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated during an earnings call that while the company planned to address a recruiting backlog, the hiring pace would slow and the company would be more selective in new hires.
Zuckerberg emphasized that maintaining a leaner operation would position the company to better navigate the uncertainty and challenges of the years ahead, ensuring long-term sustainability and growth.
Since the post-pandemic revenue dip, Meta has implemented a series of large-scale layoffs. According to the company’s SEC Form 8-K filings, Meta reduced its workforce by approximately 13% in 2022 and followed up with with an additional 10,000 layoffs in 2023.
This year follows a similar trend, with smaller cuts made throughout the year, eliminating roles that no longer fit the company’s evolving focus on AI and the Metaverse, rather than traditional social media.
As Meta continues to refine its strategy and adapt to shifting market conditions, the ongoing layoffs and restructuring highlight the challenging balance between innovation, cost-cutting, and maintaining a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.
These developments suggest that Zuckerberg’s philosophy of “move fast and break things” still guides Meta’s approach, but at the company’s current scale, the collateral damage is far more significant.
Related: Who’s Cutting Jobs? 7 Companies With Layoffs in 2024
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