The social media and technology company, Meta Platforms (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg informed the employees that the company has cut plans to hire engineers by at least 30% this year.
The company has reduced its target for hiring engineers in 2022 to around 6,000-7,000, down from an initial plan to hire about 10,000 new engineers, Zuckerberg said.
A Meta spokesperson said in a statement, “The memo was intended to build on what we’ve already said publicly in earnings about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have, where we’re putting more of our energy toward addressing.”
Zuckerberg told workers in a weekly employee Q&A session, audio said, “If I had to bet, I’d say that this might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history.”
“Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Zuckerberg said.
He further added, “Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is OK with me.”
Meta had earlier paused hiring for several verticals, like shopping and Messenger Kids, which has triggered the fear of layoffs among employees. The company paused hiring for different departments after the company failed to achieve its revenue targets.
Meta has frozen hirings for a number of products. The company recently stopped hiring for certain engineering roles and also for low-level data scientists.
Zuckerberg earlier told the staff during a meeting, “I can’t sit here and make a permanent ongoing promise that as things shift that we won’t have to reconsider that (job cuts).”
The hiring freezes have caused employees to fear that layoffs are around the corner, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an internal all-hands meeting that job cuts are not being planned.
