Meta to lay off 5% of workforce, targeting low performers

Tech giant Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, plans to slash 5% of its 72,400-strong workforce, targeting employees categorised as low performers, according to an internal memo first highlighted by Bloomberg. 

CEO Mark Zuckerberg also confirmed the move, which would affect roughly 3,600 employees, describing the decision to “raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster.”

“We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year,” Zuckerberg stated in the memo, adding, “but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle.”

Meta also plans to replace the roles of departing employees—who, according to Zuckerberg, will receive a "generous" severance pay—with new hires later this year.

According to a report by AFP, Meta's US employees will receive notifications about their employee status by February 10, while international staff will be informed later.

Zuckerberg added that a few employees who underperformed in the last period may be retained, only if there is optimism about their future contributions.  

On a recent podcast episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Zuckerberg disclosed that Meta, along with other leading tech companies, is working on AI systems to manage complex coding tasks currently handled by human engineers.

During the interaction, he also announced plans to replace mid-level software engineers with artificial intelligence (AI) by 2025. 

However, Meta isn’t alone in signalling company restructuring driven by AI advancements. Industry giants like Microsoft and Salesforce have also announced plans for job cuts, reflecting a broader trend across the tech industry.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, in a podcast episode of 20VC with Harry Stebbing, revealed that the SaaS giant’s 2025 business plan includes a major reduction in hiring software engineers next year, with Agentforce, its proprietary AI platform, expected to drive over 30% adoption across engineering teams.

“Our engineering productivity has increased by 30%, which means, we don’t currently require more software engineers. AI has fundamentally changed how we work,” he claimed. 

While Salesforce plans to reduce its support engineering roles, Benioff said the company will now focus on expanding its sales workforce by 1,000 to 2,000 employees. 

Following the launch of Agentforce, Benioff highlighted that Salesforce closed 200 deals in just five days during the October-ending quarter. The company now aims to finalise thousands of Agentforce deals this quarter.