Syed Imran Haider 
Meta has reportedly begun another round of job cuts as a part of the company’s strategy – Year of Efficiency. The company aims to serve as enormously restructured to flatten the organizational structure and save money to ensure long-lasting growth. The so-called efficiency strategy will impact almost 6000 people working in numerous positions and departments at Meta.
According to Mark Zuckerberg, Meta employees were aware of the upcoming layoffs as the company’s founder and CEO had announced it in a March blog post. He wrote in the blog post that Meta would eliminate around 10,000 employees in two rounds in April and May 2023. He had already cut 11,000 jobs in November last year.
The Latest Round of Layoffs
While Meta eliminated tech teams in the April layoff, the late May layoffs will primarily target business roles. The recruitment of around 5,000 open vacancies also seems to have stopped. Accordingly, Meta’s new strategy has made almost 21,000 individuals lose their employment at the company.
The three rounds of layoffs since November have reduced Meta’s global headcount by a quarter. Formerly known as Facebook, this company had almost 87,000 individuals working in different roles and departments.
Zuckerberg was happy with the outcome of such an exercise as he wrote in his March blog post that many things had moved faster since the company reduced its staff in November. The Meta CEO said he took the indirect cost of lower-priority projects too lightly in retrospect.
Meta’s morale is low, with thousands of employees leaving the company. The workforce also has waited for months fearing they will lose their job, whereas, for some, it is even more stressful as the layoff could mean losing a work visa or medical facilities.
Nick Clegg, the President of Global Affairs at Meta, said the third layoff wave would happen in late May and affect everyone associated with the biz teams. He wished he could find an easy way to provide comfort or consolation. The latest round of layoffs should be the last one for now if Meta adheres to its plans. Meta did not comment on the media’s request following the round of layoffs.
Meta’s Spending
In 2022, Meta invested $13.7 billion in a department called Reality Labs to develop Metaverse products. Investors are doubtful of Zuckerberg’s thinking for VR and Mixed Reality. The company’s founder had earlier said these technologies would power the upcoming limit of social linking, though he doubled down afterward.
According to Zuckerberg, some people have developed a narrative that Meta is moving away from its focus on the metaverse vision, so he needs to say it is inaccurate. Meta has focused on the Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence and will continue to do so.
Last month, the tech giant launched its Generative AI coding feature and AI Sandbox, a tool for marketers. Meta has also begun working on a supercomputer and custom chips to support extensive Artificial Intelligence research. Analysts believe Meta could compete with other tech firms like Google and Microsoft after this initiative, as the said companies also boast similar supercomputers.
