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Mark Zuckerberg Says “We’re Turning The Heat” At Meta So Employees Will Quit
This comes as the company has enacted a hiring freeze.
META has indicated a plan to slow its hiring methods for engineers by at least 30% this year. Some roles are empty and will stay unfilled as Meta dials pressure on current employees. Notably, the Facebook parent wants to cut ties with workers who can’t meet newly raised performance expectations as the company braces for a downturn.
Last month, the company was rocked by the resignation of COO Sheryl Sandberg, Zuckerman’s longtime lieutenant and the mastermind behind Facebook’s growth from ad revenue.
Accordingly, Meta had in May confirmed it enacted a hiring freeze after it grew just 7% to $27.9 billion in the 1st quarter. This marked its slowest rate of growth since Facebook went public. In a recent Q&A session, Zuckerberg became frank, telling his employees there are people at the company who shouldn’t be there.
He warned that a recent market slump might be one of the worst downturns that Meta has seen in history.
According to Reuters, Zuckerberg said amid the meeting: “Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here. Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit is that I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you and that self-selection is OK with me.”
In a separate memo to workers ahead of Zuckerberg’s remarks’ Meta chief product officer Chris Cox emphasized the severity of the situation.
He stated: “I have to underscore that we are in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce. We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets.” However, this comes as Zuckerberg had downplayed high employee turnover at Meta during the company’s earnings call in April.
At the time, he said: “I don’t think that this sort of volatility that companies face is always that unhealthy for making sure that you have the right people at companies.”
On the other hand, Meta shares have declined more than 50% as Zuckerberg attempts to reinvent his social media giant as a metaverse company. And as reported before, some Meta workers have grumbled the company’s share slump is crushing the value of their stock options. The company’s struggles have since coincided with a broader downturn in the tech sector as the Nasdaq has fallen into bear territory and posted its worst first-half performance on record.
