Meta may be gearing up for yet another round of layoffs as employees report receiving lower-than-average performance reviews this week. Tech industry layoffs have become the norm in recent months, with Meta having laid off 11,000 employees in November, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed 2023 would be the “year of efficiency.”
Sources close to the matter told The Wall Street Journal that the subpar reviews could indicate another round of layoffs but Meta claims the performance review process is not a sign of things to come. Instead, Meta said in an email to Gizmodo that it is meant to “incentivise long-term thinking and high-quality work while helping employees get actionable feedback.”
Meta’s reassurances have not quelled the concern that the work ethic information provided to employees is just one stepping stone on the path to excusing workers from the company. Zuckerberg has expressed the possibility that employees who aren’t deemed up to snuff wouldn’t last long, and at a town hall meeting in June said, “Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
Reports revealed about 10% of the employees received poor reviews, with some saying it was typical of Zuckerberg’s attitude at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic when he provided straightforward and direct feedback to employees.
The performance reviews come after sources familiar with the situation told Business Insider management companywide was told to double the low-performance rankings from “met most” expectations to “needs support.” The sources said the quota would be increased to between 14.5% and 16.5% from the previous range of 7% to 12%.
“We increased the bottom of our range for this cycle because it includes 12 months of non-regrettable attrition instead of 6 months like we had in our old system,” the outlet reported managers were told. “Additionally, we included non-regrettable attrition from the November layoff. We will also be more rigorous in our assessment of borderline Met Most/Consistently Met All cases.”
However, whether the negative reviews will impact the future employment of Meta’s staff has not been revealed and the company declined to answer when Gizmodo asked if this is indicative of future layoffs.
A Meta spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Gizmodo the reviews were part of a bigger plan to “reinforce a culture of high performance.” They added, “Nothing about this year’s performance review process has changed or is different than what we’ve already communicated to employees.”