Meta Freezes Hiring Ahead Of Massive Layoffs?
Meta's immense revenue losses have provoked hiring freezes that could very likely escalate to mass layoffs.
Inflation is finally stunting the economy in measurable ways. And big businesses are beginning to really feel the heat. Walmart and Target have both recently reported record revenue losses. Netflix is losing subscribers left and right and has now laid off well over 100 employees. It’s only fitting that Facebook parent company Meta has now joined the crowd. The Verge pointed out that Meta has implemented a hiring freeze for various departments and layoffs could be in the future for many.
Meta executives have begun informing affected departments of the new hiring freezes. As of now the freezes largely apply to engineering, recruiting, and data entry roles. The Verge learned of some of the specific departments that have already been impacted by the freezes. These include Facebook Dating, Facebook Gaming, and Messenger Kids. The company has also decided to scale back its video-conferencing development efforts that support remote workers. The abrupt freezes come alongside a massive shares nosedive on Wall Street for the social media conglomerate.
Meta’s immense hiring scale back has caused many to question whether or not layoffs may follow. CEO Mark Zuckerberg commented on the issue directly, albeit rather coyly. Zuckerberg highlighted that it is not his intent to let any employees go and that Meta is doing everything in its power to prevent that from happening. However, the undercurrent beneath that sentiment was that further layoffs could indeed be a very real possibility. “I can’t sit here and make a permanent ongoing promise that as things shift that we won’t have to reconsider that,” said Zuckerberg.
A Meta spokesperson, Joe Osborne, acknowledged the hiring freezes but attempted to pivot the conversation to focus on areas where Meta is still intensely focused on adding new talent. Osborne made specific mention of emerging positions in the sectors of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The CTO of Meta’s metaverse initiative Inside Reality Labs, Andrew Bosworth, detailed that the company has a clear future goal that they want to attain and that they are willing to recalibrate the business as needed to meet those goals. While Bosworth didn’t come right out and say it, his assertions seem to suggest that if Meta’s revenue growth continues to plummet then layoffs in areas deemed less integral to the company achieving their ultimate goals could certainly experience layoffs.
All in all, though, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t seem to be too worried. Zuckerberg acknowledged that, at present, things aren’t going exactly as planned for Meta. He cited specific challenges relating to Apple’s new privacy policies that Meta apps are now subject to adhere to. However, he emphasized just how lucrative the business continues to be overall and despite perceived challenges how it continues to thrive. “I do want to be clear that we’re in a very strong position and have a very healthy business, and we’re still growing quickly,” highlighted Zuckerberg.
So do Meta employees have a reason to be worried? On the whole, it looks like the majority of Meta employees should walk away from this layoff scare unscathed. However, judging by what has been disclosed, some departments, particularly those affected by the freezes, do indeed have some level of cause for concern.
