Meta slashes hiring plans, warns employees about slowdown later this year
According to Zuckerberg, Meta has cut its objective for recruiting engineers in 2022 to about 6,000-7,000, down from an early plan to hire about 10,000 additional engineers. Meta acknowledged hiring freezes in general terms last month, but particular details have not been disclosed.
FollowMeta Platforms Inc, which owns Facebook, has trimmed plans to hire engineers by at least 30% this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff on Thursday, as he cautioned them to brace for a severe economic slump. "If I had to wager, I'd say this may be one of the worst downturns in recent history," Zuckerberg said in a weekly staff Q&A session, audio of which was obtained by Reuters.
According to Zuckerberg, Meta has cut its objective for recruiting engineers in 2022 to about 6,000-7,000, down from an early plan to hire about 10,000 additional engineers. Meta acknowledged hiring freezes in general terms last month, but particular details have not been disclosed. He said that, in addition to cutting recruiting, the corporation was keeping some jobs empty due to attrition and "turning up the heat" on performance management to cull out employees who were unable to fulfil more aggressive standards.
"There are probably a number of individuals at the firm that shouldn't be here," Zuckerberg stated. "Part of my intention is that by raising expectations, having more aggressive goals, and just sort of turning up the heat a little bit, some of you could decide that this place isn't for you, and that self-selection is OK with me," he added.
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The social media and technology corporation is preparing for a leaner second half of the year as it deals with macroeconomic challenges and data privacy impacts on its advertising business.
In anticipation of a future US recession, IT companies have cut back their expectations across the board, while Meta's stock price has fallen more precipitously than competitors Apple and Google. The world's largest social media corporation lost over half of its market value this year when Meta announced that daily active users on its flagship Facebook app fell for the first time in a quarter for the first time.
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