Companies around the world are bracing themselves for a looming recession and have subsequently taken steps to cut costs. It looks like Meta is no exception.
Employees of the Facebook parent company announced late last month it would implement a hiring freeze and “restructuring”, according to a Bloomberg News report.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg shared via a company memo that the uncertain macroeconomic environment was the cause for the changes, particularly as their advertisers trim spending in anticipation of a recession.
“I had hoped the economy would have more clearly stabilized by now, but from what we’re seeing it doesn’t yet seem like it has, so we want to plan somewhat conservatively,” Zuckerberg told employees during a weekly Q&A session, as reported by Bloomberg.
According to the outlet, Meta decreased their plans to hire engineers by at least 30% this year, as Reuters reported in June. Meta shared a statement made in a July earnings call:
“Our plan is to steadily reduce headcount growth over the next year,” he said. “Many teams are going to shrink so we can shift energy to other areas, and I wanted to give our leaders the ability to decide within their teams where to double down, where to backfill attrition, and where to restructure teams while minimizing thrash to the long-term initiatives.”
Meta isn’t the only large corporation tightening their purse strings.
ESSENCE previously reported that Netflix cited the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and over-hiring during rapid growth periods as reasons for their mass layoffs over the summer. Other tech giants like Robinhood, Twitter, Glossier and Better are a part of a growing list that are continually letting people go.
Recent data from LinkedIn shows that fintech has also been trimming their workforce. Forbes reported that Chicago-based debit card company M1, reduced its team of 369 people to 349 in one month. Neobank reported a slight decrease in employees on LinkedIn as well. PointCard, a debit rewards startup reported 105 employees in January and now it’s down to 61.
