Apparently, reportedly, Meta gave about 10% of its staff performance reviews which was a clear enough indication that they were underperforming, WSJ reported. The performance reviews signal evidently that Meta could be gearing up for another round of layoffs. Meta let go of about 11,000 workers back in late 2022 and dubbed 2023 the “Year of Efficiency.” Meta could be gearing up for more layoffs after the company gave “thousands” of workers low performance reviews, according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal. The publication cited people familiar with the issue who said the company actually predominantly anticipates that the poor ratings will prompt some people to look for work elsewhere and leave the company in the weeks ahead, which has now divided the mass.
About 10% of Meta staff received reviews that indicated they were underperforming, which is a higher number than in previous years. Tension has now begun gain regarding layoffs as was last year, or even worse so. Workers who receive two reviews that indicate they are underperforming in a row are put on an improvement plan, the publication said. The report confirms Insider’s reporting from December that Meta wanted managers to rank twice as many people this year as low performing in their annual performance reviews, according to two people familiar with the matter herein. When compared to last year’s review cycle, the quota for Meta’s lowest employee performance review categories — from “met most” expectations to “needs support” — will roughly double, as per reports recently.
The Journal reported that because of the company’s hiring spree between 2020 and 2022, more than just half of its workers had never been through a performance review cycle at Meta. One former worker called the reviews a return to “OG Mark” or “old school Zuckerberg,” the Journal said. A Meta spokesperson told Insider that the performance reviews are intended to incentivize employees, while simultaneously also giving them actionable feedback. “Nothing about this year’s performance review process has changed or is different than what we’ve already communicated to employees,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The report comes after about 13% of the company were laid off late last year — the broadest cull the social media company has ever seen — and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared that 2023 would be a “Year of Efficiency” for the company, which now very seemingly looks like is going to end an odd way.
During the company’s earnings call earlier this month, Zuckerberg signaled that Meta was far from done with layoffs and now we can see what he perpetually meant to do. “We closed last year with some difficult layoffs and when we did this, I said clearly that this was the beginning of our focus on efficiency and not the end,” Zuckerberg said during the call with investors. At the time, the Meta CEO said he’s “flattening” the company’s structure as its grown to include more middle managers than made sense. Over a week later, Bloomberg reported that the company had told some managers and directors to move into roles as individual contributors or leave the company. Insider’s Kali Hays reported in January that Meta employees have been bracing for another round of layoffs amid signs of more cost-cutting measures at the company.
