'Letting go of meaningful contributors': Read Meta's HR memo as it lays off 8,000 employees

Meta has confirmed to lay off 10% of its workforce on April 23, affecting nearly 8000 employees across divisions. Alongside workforce reduction, Meta will also be closing over 6000 open roles.  The workforce reduction has been in talks for weeks and was also reported by several media sources. Now the company has released an internal memo, which is accessed by Bloomberg, confirming the news to the employees, as it expands spending on artificial intelligence. 

What’s more concerning is that Meta is expected to carry out two rounds of layoffs, one in May, which has already been confirmed, and another later this year that could impact another  10% of its workforce.

Must read: Microsoft offers exit option to thousands of employees, revamps pay and rewards system

Here’s the full memo sent to employees by Meta’s leadership 

“ Over the last few weeks we have been working on some changes to our organization that will result in us laying off around 10% of the company on May 20, and closing about 6,000 open roles. Normally, we would want to nail down more details before communicating about this broadly, but since this has leaked, I want to share what I can right now. I know this is unwelcome news and confirming this puts everyone in an uneasy state, but we feel this is the best path forward, given the circumstances.

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. This is not an easy tradeoff and it will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here.

We will support those who are laid off with a generous severance package which, in the US, will include 16 weeks base pay plus two weeks for every year of employment. We will also cover the cost of COBRA health care coverage for US employees and their families for 18 months. Packages outside the US will be similar but vary by country, as will local timelines and processes. We will also offer career services to support people in finding another role, and immigration support for those who need it. We’ll share more of these details in a follow up post ahead of May 20.

For notifications, we will follow the same process we have before: 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.

I know this leaves everyone with nearly a month of ambiguity which is incredibly unsettling. We will try to answer your questions here in the comments but as we’re still working through the details we aren’t able to share much more until later in May. Meanwhile, you can find more information on the People Portal which includes our standard FAQs and logistical details for layoffs.”