Meta’s poor performance reviews hint at further layoffs

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has reportedly given below-average performance reviews to around 10 per cent of its workforce. This points to approximately 7,000 employees who have received low ratings in their annual reviews. The Wall Street Journal report revealed that Meta has five possible ratings for its employees, with the lowest rating possible being ‘meets some’ and the second lowest being ‘meets most’. Employees who receive a ‘meets most’ rating twice in a row are placed on a performance improvement plan, while those who receive lower ratings are automatically put on the performance review plan.

A Meta spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that the company has always had a goal-based culture of high performance, and that the review process is designed to incentivise long-term thinking and high-quality work, while providing employees with actionable feedback. However, with reports of further layoffs being planned at Meta, the poor performance ratings may be perceived as a subtle hint at the same.

In November 2022, Meta announced its decision to lay off 11,000 employees, which roughly translated to letting go of around 13 per cent of its workforce. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, announced the news in an official blog post, stating that he made the decision to significantly increase investments, which unfortunately did not play out as he expected.

Earlier this month, reports surfaced that Mark Zuckerberg had declared 2023 as the ‘year of efficiency’ and hinted at further layoffs in the company. During Meta’s fourth-quarter earnings call, the young CEO stated that the last thing the company needs is a system that has more managers managing managers than people putting in the work. This statement hinted at a fresh round of layoffs that will be removing many middle managers from the company. He also expressed his desire to speed up the decision-making process of the company.

Following his statements on possible layoffs, Mark Zuckerberg’s security allowance was increased. Meta will now be spending an additional $4 million (around Rs 33 crore) on the CEO’s safety. Previously, Zuckerberg had a security allowance of $10 million, but now, the company will be paying $14 million for the same.