Photo: Andrey_Popov – shutterstock.com
The current economic crisis has not left unscathed even the Internet companies that are used to being successful. After those responsible at Facebook parent company Meta announced in July that they would put the brakes on hiring new employees, things are now even more inconvenient for the workforce. The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta had begun to cut staff and streamline teams within the group. How many jobs will disappear remains speculation. According to insiders, up to ten percent of jobs could be cut as part of the staff reduction.
Big Tech cuts staff
According to the WSJ report, Meta managers have been asked by management to identify employees in their teams who may be fired. The group wants the candidates on the hit list to be able to apply for vacancies in the company within 30 days. If that is not possible, the person concerned must leave. What is new is that not only the so-called underperformers, but also other employees may have to resign in the course of the cancellation measures.
Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently swore to staff to tougher times. After the first drop in turnover in the company’s history, the manager spoke of an economic downturn. To get the crisis under control, it is necessary to achieve more with fewer resources.
Photo: Frederic Legrand – COMEO – shutterstock.com
Like Meta, Google is also turning the staff screw. Hundreds of jobs in individual teams must be cut. However, the affected employees were able to apply for vacancies in the group within 90 days. Like Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, had warned his employees in advance that productivity in the group had to increase significantly.
In the boom, Facebook and Google have massively hired skilled workers and created many new jobs. Meta employed about 83,000 people worldwide by mid-2022, almost a third more than a year earlier. Alphabet has recently employed some 174,000 people, about a fifth more than a year ago.