Meta to lay off 5% of employees for poor performance

Meta announces restructuring, dismantling DEI team and eliminating diversity programs in its hiring process

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Meta is planning to cut 5% of its lowest performers, according to Business Insider.

Mark Zuckerberg has informed Meta employees that the company will raise the bar on its performance management and swiftly move to "remove low-performers," according to an internal memo seen by Business Insider.

Zuckerberg outlined plans for "more extensive performance-based cuts" as part of this year's performance review cycle. The process, which began last week, involves employees submitting self-reviews, peer reviews, and manager reviews.

In the memo, Zuckerberg stated that impacted employees in the US would be notified by February 10. A separate memo from Meta’s director of people development, Hillary Champion, revealed that the company plans to exit "approximately 5% of our lowest performers."

Meta employed 72,404 people globally as of September 30, 2024, according to the company’s latest earnings report. Employees affected by the cuts will receive severance packages, in line with previous layoffs, Champion noted.

In a broader restructuring effort, Meta also announced it would dismantle its DEI-focused team and eliminate diversity programs in its hiring process. The company's vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale, explained that the term DEI had become "charged" and was seen by some as favoring certain groups over others.

Earlier in the week, Meta also made changes to its content moderation policies, removing third-party fact-checkers in favor of a community notes model, similar to X.

These developments follow a series of layoffs in March 2023, when Meta let go of 10,000 employees, part of Zuckerberg's push for the company’s "year of efficiency."

Read the full memo below:

Meta is working on building some of the most important technologies in the world - - AI, glasses as the next computing platform, and the future of social media. This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams.

I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster. We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle, with the intention of back filling these roles in 2025. We won’t manage out everyone who didn’t meet expectations for the last period if we’re optimistic about their future performance, and for those we do let go, we’ll provide generous severance in line with what we provided with previous cuts. 

We’ll follow up with more guidance for managers ahead of calibrations. People who are impacted will be notified on February 10 or later for those outside the U.S.