Meta Delays Finalizing Budgets of Teams, Prepares For Fresh Round of Layoffs

Recent reports reveal that Facebook’s parent company Meta has delayed finalizing the budgets of the teams at multiple levels, as it prepares for a fresh round of layoffs.

Two employees familiar with the case disclosed that lately, there has been a lack of clarity on crucial matters such as team budgets as well as future head counts in recent weeks.

They further disclosed that certain decisions that would usually take days to be signed off are now taking a month in some cases. They complain that since managers are unable to plan their upcoming workloads, their work efficiency is being hampered up to the point of “zero work”.

An employee said, “Honestly, it’s still a mess. The year of efficiency is kicking off with a bunch of people getting paid to do nothing”. Meanwhile, the job cuts are expected to take place around March, but it is unknown how many people could be affected.

Shares of Meta rose more than 2% in morning trading following the news that fresh job cuts are coming to the company. Its stock had jumped nearly 30% over the past month after the company CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced dramatic new plans to slash costs.

Investors King understands Zuckerberg had labeled 2023 a “year of efficiency” after splashing the company’s workforce by 13% last fall, as it focuses on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization.

On a recent earnings call, he said the company would be “more proactive” about cutting low-performing or low-priority projects. “We are working on flattening our organization structure and removing some layers in middle management to make decisions faster”, he said.

In its quarterly statement, Meta said it expects the first quarter total revenue to be in the range of US$26-US$28.5 billion, and it anticipates that the full-year 2023 total expenses will be in the range of US$89-US$95 billion, lowered from its prior outlook of US$94-US$100 billion.

In recent months, a slew of tech companies have announced plans to cut costs, which has seen companies such as Amazon, and Google trims their workforce and freeze hiring.

The tech sector has been hit by the economic downturn, as the sector shed 9,587 jobs in October last year, the highest monthly total since November 2020.