Meta likely to cut 8,000 jobs on May 20, morale inside company is low and everyone is grim
Meta is preparing another major round of layoffs affecting around 8,000 employees as the company pushes deeper into AI investments and restructuring efforts.
As Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is preparing to lay off another 8,000 employees on May 20, the atmosphere inside Meta has reportedly become increasingly tense. According to a report from Wired, widening pay gaps among employees, courtroom losses for the company, and mandatory role changes for hundreds of engineers have already created frustration internally. Another concern among workers has reportedly been the installation of corporate software on company computers to track employee activity for AI training purposes.
The latest layoff on May 20 will affect roughly 10 per cent of its global workforce. The cuts will add to the nearly 25,000 jobs Meta has already eliminated over the past four years.
The announcement was shared in an internal memo sent by Meta’s chief people officer, Janelle Gale. Gale acknowledged that employees were already hearing about the layoffs after reports began appearing in the media.
Employees to receive severance and healthcare support
According to Bloomberg, Meta said affected employees would receive “generous” severance packages. In the United States, workers will receive 16 weeks of base pay, along with an additional two weeks for every year they spent at the company.
Meta also said it would continue covering healthcare costs for US employees and their families for 18 months. For employees outside the US, the company said the packages would be similar, although details would vary depending on local laws and processes. Career support services will also be provided to impacted workers.
Gale also informed employees about how notifications would be handled. “On May 20, anyone who is impacted will receive an email to their work and personal accounts — please make sure your personal email is updated in Workday,” she wrote.
Meta says cuts are part of efficiency push
In the memo, Gale said the layoffs are part of Meta’s broader effort to operate more efficiently while continuing to invest in other areas.
“We’re doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making,” she wrote.
While the memo did not directly mention AI investments, Meta has increasingly focused on artificial intelligence across nearly every part of the company.
Zuckerberg says AI is changing how Meta builds products
Speaking during a company call on April 29, Mark Zuckerberg said AI is rapidly changing how products are developed inside Meta. According to Zuckerberg, small teams — or even individuals using AI tools — can now build and launch projects within a week that previously required dozens of engineers and several months of work.
He added that Meta wants to become the preferred platform for AI-powered creators and plans to release far more apps and projects in the future.