Facebook On The Verge Of Firing 12,000 Employees; 15% Workforce Can Be Asked To Leave

Creating chaos once again, Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook is rumored to be planning a mass round of “quiet layoffs” within the next few weeks.

12K employees discarded

The amount could run into roughly 12,000 employees which is 15 percent of the entire company’s staff.

A Business Insider report said that executives told directors across the company they should select at least 15% of their teams to be labelled as “needs support” in an internal review process.

Roundabout way of sacking people

“Needs support” is Facebook’s way of saying that an employee is considered to be performing below the benchmark goals.

Such employees are put on a “performance improvement plan,” or a PIP, which more often than not results in layoffs.

The potential layoffs were revealed last week in a post by a Meta worker on Blind- an app used anonymously by company workers.

The person wrote, ““These 15% will likely be put on PIP (performance improvement plan) and be let go.”

“Quiet”?

The reason it is being called “quiet” is that Facebook has already started the process.

It plans to do the deed by shifting performance expectations rather than outright firing thousands at once.

One employee told Insider, “It might look like they are moving on, but the reality is they are being forced out.”

Share price nosedive

The company workforce has been bracing for layoffs for months since the firm announced a hiring freeze.

There are other woes compounding the issue.

At its peak, Meta’s stock price approached $380 per share.

However, over the past year the share price has plunged 60 per cent.

Freezing hiring

Zuckerberg mentioned during the last Meta earnings call that they plan to “steadily reduce headcount growth” over the next year.

He said that many teams are going to shrink so “we can shift energy to other areas.”

Find internal job or leave

The move is an attempt to cut costs amid the economic downturn by apparently putting some of them on traditional 30 to 60 days “lists” to find a new role within the company or leave.

This is a traditional company practice where employees whose roles are eliminated are subject to termination if they can’t find a new job internally within a month.