Meta laid off about 4,000 employees on Monday in a performance-based job-cutting spree — however a number of impacted staffers claimed that they had acquired glowing suggestions from their managers simply final 12 months, in response to a report.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the layoffs — which slashed Meta’s workforce by 5% — in January, telling staffers he “determined to boost the bar on efficiency administration,” taking a extra “hardcore” strategy to removing low performers, as fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk has performed at his corporations.
Some affected workers stated the firings got here as whole whiplash, since simply final 12 months that they had acquired “At or Above Expectations” rankings throughout their annual assessment — the center tier in Meta’s mid-year assessment system, in response to Enterprise Insider.
“We had been instructed by management that if we’d be impacted by this, then we’d already expect it, based mostly on conversations our managers ought to have been having with us in our weekly one-on-ones,” an impacted worker instructed Enterprise Insider.
“However I used to be fully blindsided by this,” the worker continued. “My supervisor had been telling me that I’ve been doing nice and didn’t present any areas to be labored on. My supervisor even stated that I might be effective and never impacted.”
Meta didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
A number of impacted workers stated they had been excessive performers final 12 months, and had been shocked to seek out their rankings had been downgraded to “Meets Most,” a decrease tier within the system, simply in time for Monday’s job cuts.
“After I acquired the e-mail, I used to be stunned by it largely as a result of I’ve a really strong efficiency historical past and no indicators of the final six months of efficiency issues,” one laid-off worker instructed BI.
One Meta staffer, who stated they had been “unexpectedly” fired, posted paperwork to Meta’s inside discussion board, Office, displaying that they had constantly met or exceeded expectations for 4 years earlier than a sudden downgrade to “Meets Most” in late 2024, in response to BI.
One other impacted worker stated that they had acquired an “At or Above Expectations” ranking in early 2024, however had been immediately let go on Monday shortly after coming back from parental go away, in response to the report.
“I’m tremendous confused how I received terminated,” the worker wrote on Office. “I nonetheless suppose that is an error.”
Final month, Zuckerberg emphasised his want to behave shortly to “transfer out low performers.”
However inside steering permitted Meta’s managers to incorporate workers from greater efficiency tiers within the job cuts if they may not meet their discount targets with low performers alone, in response to BI.
Some workers shared issues that the sudden efficiency downgrade and their public label as “low performers” by Zuckerberg may damage their profession.
“The toughest half is Meta publicly stating they’re chopping low performers, so it appears like now we have the scarlet letter on our backs,” an impacted worker instructed BI. “Individuals must know we’re not underperformers.”
One worker griped that they had been dropped two efficiency rankings from their mid-year assessment in 2024, and weren’t given any suggestions from their supervisor.
“I would definitely problem Meta’s narrative about chopping solely low performers,” one other laid-off employee instructed the outlet. “I’ve a very, actually tough time believing I used to be a low performer based mostly on previous suggestions I used to be given by my supervisor.”