Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has unveiled new restructuring plans aimed at improving organizational efficiency and financial performance amid a difficult economic environment. In a recent letter to employees, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared details of the company’s Year of Efficiency, which will involve reducing the workforce by approximately 10,000 employees and closing around 5,000 open roles.
The restructuring, set to take place over the next couple of months, will focus on flattening organizational structures, canceling lower priority projects, and reducing hiring rates. Layoffs are expected to be announced in tech groups in late April, followed by business groups in late May. International teams will follow different timelines, with local leaders providing more details.
The layoffs will result in the departure of talented and passionate colleagues, but Meta plans to support affected employees and treat them with gratitude. After the restructuring process, hiring and transfer freezes in each group will be lifted. The company will also continue to refine its distributed work model and invest in developer productivity enhancements and process improvements throughout the year.
Zuckerberg outlined cultural principles that will guide Meta’s efficiency efforts, including making the organization flatter by removing multiple layers of management, focusing on leaner teams to execute higher priorities faster, returning to a more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles, and investing in tools that will improve efficiency in the long term.
The Year of Efficiency is also aimed at addressing challenges posed by the new economic reality. Higher interest rates, geopolitical instability, and increased regulation are expected to impact growth and innovation. Meta’s financial plan, devised in response to these challenges, will enable the company to invest heavily in the future while delivering sustainable results, provided the company runs every team more efficiently.
Despite the challenges, Zuckerberg remains optimistic about Meta’s work on transformative technologies such as AI, the metaverse, and next-generation computing platforms. He encouraged employees to focus on doing great work and supporting their teammates during this period of change.
