NEW YORK: Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, is set to implement company-wide layoffs next week while accelerating the hiring of machine learning engineers, according to internal memos cited by Reuters news agency.
Employees affected by the job cuts will start receiving notifications from 5 a.m. local time on Monday, including in the United States, according to a memo authored by Janelle Gale, Meta’s Head of People.
However, staff in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands will be exempt from the redundancies due to local regulations, while employees in more than a dozen countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa will be informed between 11 and 18 February, the memo stated.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the memos, Reuters reported.
The technology giant had previously confirmed plans to reduce its workforce by approximately 5%, targeting what it described as its “lowest performers.”
Gale’s memo referred to the job cuts as “performance terminations,” according to The Information, which first reported the details of the Friday memo.
Unlike previous rounds of mass layoffs, Meta intends to keep its offices open on Monday and will not issue any additional updates regarding the decision, Gale reportedly stated.
In a separate internal communication, Peng Fan, Meta’s Vice President of Engineering for Monetisation, urged employees to support an expedited hiring process for machine learning engineers and other “business-critical” engineering roles.
This hiring push is set to take place between 11 February and 13 March, according to Reuters.
Fan’s memo expressed appreciation for employees’ assistance in achieving the company’s accelerated hiring objectives, which he said would help “better align with our company’s priorities for 2025.”
Meta has undertaken multiple rounds of job cuts since late 2022 as part of its restructuring efforts, even as it continues investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies. – Agencies
