Meta evaluates a series of below average employees, prepares for the next round of layoffs

According to the Wall Street Journal, social media giant Meta, rated thousands of tech workers below average in its last performance rating. The WSJ forecast this sign of low performance ratings suggests that Meta is likely to continue its mass layoffs.

Forbes also said that the cut Meta has cut bonuses and plans to hire engineers this year. The moves come after CEO Mark Zuckerberg pledged 2023 will be “a productive year”.

The source said that according to Meta managers, the ratings of 10% of employees indicate that they are underperforming. This is not unprecedented. But compared to 2019, the group’s headcount nearly doubled to 84,600 last year.

Furthermore, about 50% of employees have never gone through a performance review at the company.

A spokesperson for Meta said that Meta’s performance review process is consistent with what the company has communicated to employees. A spokesperson for Meta said: “Our culture is high-performance goal-based. The evaluation process is intended to encourage long-term thinking and performance excellence, and to help employees receive feedback for change.”

Since last year, Meta executives have suggested that low performers won’t survive at the company. “In fact, there are probably a lot of people in the company who shouldn’t be here,” Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg said in a June 2022 statement.

Along with the performance review, Meta has informed employees that the performance bonus will also only be paid 85%. This component is one of three numbers used to determine an employee’s annual bonus.

At 85%, this is down at least 15 percentage points from the previous year and falls below 100% for the first time since the first half of 2018.

According to the WSJ, the Meta giant has been struggling for more than a year and a half as it encounters increasing competition from an emerging competitor, TikTok.

Next, as of April 2021, Meta has to deal with the impact of changes to Apple’s ad tracking feature. Over the past three quarters, Meta has recorded a year-over-year decline in revenue.

Faced with its challenging financial situation, in November 2022 Meta announced it would lay off staff. The company is also ‘tightening’ by reducing office space, switching to shared desks and extending the hiring ‘freeze’ period until the first quarter of 2023.

These changes are starting to take effect. Although revenue continued to decline, it reported a net profit of $4.7 billion in the third quarter of 2022, up from the previous quarter. That ended a three-quarter streak of declines in profits from the previous quarter – an unprecedented decline the company has experienced in a decade.

Source: Forbes, Wall Street Journal