Meta Layoffs: The tenures of thousands of Meta employees came to an end today with a feared message that had been circulating for weeks: “Unfortunately, your role has been eliminated as part of today’s reorganisation.”
Employees were told to pack up and head home if they were already in the office, the email asked for staff to collect any personal items left on their desk and then head home.
The email to employees was sent out at 4am on Wednesday morning and stated that Meta would be letting nearly 8,000 employees go as part of the reorganization. More than 7,000 employees would be moved to a number of AI-focused groups within the company.
It was a very formal, worded email that seemed to be written with great care. But beneath the words of that email was the stark reality of another massive restructuring at one of the world’s biggest tech companies.
Meta is another day making efforts to run the company more efficiently and those cost savings will help to fund many of the key investments that the company is undertaking. Many of those investments are in AI.
For a short period of time, employees would not be able to use their badges to enter Meta buildings, and would not have access to Meta’s internal systems. However, within an hour, employees would no longer have access to Meta’s internal systems and would be automatically redirected to Meta’s Alumni Portal, where they would find information regarding their severance package, their visa status, benefits, and also learn about job opportunities at other companies.
“Thank you — Your impact at Meta has been an important part of our story here.”
Meta’s largest ever cross functional layoff is taking place after the company’s sharply increased spending on AI. The “Year of Efficiency” launched by Mark Zuckerberg as Meta’s head in 2022-23 resulted in around 21,000 job cuts.
Meta’s push into AI to form what the company believes is to be the next big computing revolution, is being furthered by spending increases on associated infrastructure. This week Meta forecast this year’s capital expenditure to be between $125 billion and $145 billion, an more than double the outlay the company is forecasting for 2025.
The reorganization is with an eye to the next era of computing as Zuckerberg sees it. The same company that laid off large numbers of employees in order to sharply increase spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure is getting ready to shift internally in order to better support that work.
‘Can Feel The Weight Of It’: Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg to Meta employees: ‘Can feel the weight of it’ in laying off hundreds of engineers in California, says no more company-wide layoffs this year (Business Insider)
“it’s always sad to say good-bye to people who have contributed to our mission and to building this company. I can feel the weight of that.”
In the memo to remaining employees at Meta Zuckerberg writes that he doesn’t expect any more company-wide layoffs for the rest of the year. Here’s an excerpt from his message: Meta is one of the few companies positioned to help define the future for the people online around the world. Our mission remains the same. We’re focused on building Personal Superintelligence for every person in the world.
Layoffs will receive 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks of pay for every year they worked at Meta. Health insurance will be provided for the laid off employee and their family for up to 18 months.
In addition to employees getting value from vested and unvested stock grants (which are already paid for), employees will continue to get value from the paid time off that has been accrued for and paid for by Meta. After Meta employees leave the company, they and their family members can access career services for external job search support provided by a third party (Lee Hecht Harrison) for up to 3 years after they left.
The benefits that were not extended to Meta’s former employees are immigration Guidance and contact for assigned law firms. Much of the tech industry in the US is comprised of H-1B workers, and thus this benefit is particularly relevant to many of the alumni.
‘Collect Your Belongings And Leave’
Another detail from the email stood out.
This email also mentions earlier that employees will work from home on the day of the layoffs but those that are on Meta campuses, will have to collect their things and then leave.
The email also ends with Meta expressing ‘gratitude for your contributions’. Here’s a reminder of how many people work at the company. As of last March, there were some 78,000 employees at Meta. So even with the cut of jobs, plus the re-routing of other employees to AI initiatives, that’s a number of people who would have been affected by the company’s restructuring in some way – roughly one in five of Meta’s employees.
Meta employed 78,000 people as of last month (March). It’s impossible to know for sure how many were transferred to other parts of the company, working on the company’s burgeoning AI products, but whatever the number, this restructure as affected something like 1 in 5 of the workforce.
Meta Layoff Email: Read Full Text
As we outlined previously, our efforts to run the company more efficiently will be partially offset by the investments we are making in product. Unfortunately, as part of today’s reorganization, your role at Meta will be eliminated. We want to thank you for your time at Meta and for the great work that you did to help us grow.
We know that you will have a lot of questions, particularly for your manager, and you will find out more from them. In the meantime, you will find more information and resources on the Alumni Portal (Meta.com/alumni) that you will be able to access on your personal devices within an hour of losing system access. Below, we outline more information about the Alumni Portal.
Non-working notice period
You are now in a non-working notice period of time from today through your Termination Date of [redacted]. You will no longer have internal access to Meta and will have no work to do for the company.
You will continue to accrue PTO as you would until your Termination Date. Any remaining PTO will be paid out in your final check at the end of your notice period. You will be paid Notice Pay (your salary) throughout the notice period and this will be reflected on your payslips.
Leave of absence (if applicable): Your end of employment date will be your notified Termination Date. Any on going leaves of absence will also come to an end on your notified Termination Date. To the extent you remain disabled and are eligible to continue participation in the disability plan, you may be eligible to receive continued disability payments following your separation from Meta.
You will receive your full salary and full benefits until your Termination Date, and you will receive the full value of any unvested RSU grants on your Termination Date, as if they had vested in accordance with the Equity Incentive Plan.
Your salary and benefits will be 100% paid until your date of termination. In addition to your full salary and all of your benefits paid in full, you will receive value from any unvested RSU grants that have vested by your date of termination under the terms of the Equity Incentive Plan. In addition to these transitions and benefits, we are also providing three months of external job search assistance at our expense. The outplacement services will be provided by Lee Hecht Harrison (the “LHH”) and details of the program are outlined in the enclosed LHH Outplacement Services flyer.
Severance details
Non-signable Separation Agreement details attached below for your review. A signable version of the Separation Agreement with all of your package details has been sent to your email address from [redacted] this morning. As a reminder, in order to receive your severance payment you must sign and return the Separation Agreement to HR as soon as possible.
No Electronic Separation Agreement (the “Agreement”) was sent to your personal email address by end of day yesterday, as promised. If you fail to receive the electronic signable Agreement to your personal email address by end of day tomorrow, it may have been marked as spam and would be in your spam folder. If it hasn’t been received after checking your spam folder, please file a case in the Alumni Portal (please note that if you apply for and accept another role at Meta no later than one week prior to your Termination Date, then you will remain an employee of Meta and this Agreement shall be deemed null and void and you will not be eligible for severance under the terms of the Severance Plan for Regular Employees (FTEs)) to apply.
Below we set out the information regarding severance package that Meta is offering to you as a Regular Employee (FTE) of Meta.
Severance payment: 16 weeks (base case) plus 2 weeks for each complete year of service to Meta, minus the amount of typical notice period for employee (as set forth in cover sheet to Separation Agreement attached hereto as Exhibit A).
Continue your health and family’s health insurance for 18 months after termination through payment of your COBRA premiums for you and your family (if they are dependent and covered on Meta’s health plan for you now).
Immigration (if applicable)
For those whose visa and work authorization are Meta-sponsored, this is a particularly difficult time for them. I have put together some general immigration guidance that I hope is helpful on the Alumni Portal, and includes the contact information for your law firm as well as the ability to open a case there if you have any specific questions about your case.
System access and office information
As you have transitioned into paid non-working notice period this morning, your badge has been deactivated and you will no longer be able to access any of the Meta internal systems. If you are currently in the office, please make your way home and collect any personal effects that you have left. If you need to collect any personal effects from the office, please refer to the Alumni Portal for instructions.
Getting more information
We have also collected information about pay, benefits and other issues that you might want to take into consideration when deciding whether or not to stay at Meta in the Alumni Portal. You will gain access to the Alumni Portal within the hour when you lose system access today, as promised above. As always, you will need your employee ID (at the top of this email) to logon.
And thank you for your time at Meta and for the great work that you did here for us.
Sincerely,
Meta Leadership