Meta joins Microsoft and Google in offering voluntary exits to employees: Report

After Google and Microsoft, social media giant Meta is offering voluntary exits with massive severance pay. The company has sacked thousands of employees in recent months, and now it's giving select employees the option to leave voluntarily as it plans to streamline its workforce, according to the French publication La Lettre. The report suggests that the voluntary exit plan is being offered to employees in France. Here's everything we know so far about Meta's plan.

Reportedly, the programme could impact around one-third of its workforce in France. However, the official number has not been disclosed. Meta has around 300 employees in France, and approximately 100 of them could be affected by this programme. Furthermore, it's unclear which departments, teams, and job roles are covered under these voluntary exit offers.

Meta's voluntary exit plan

The French report highlighted that Meta's voluntary exit is different from Microsoft's and Google's exit plans. The social media giant is relying on a mechanism called Rupture Conventionnelle Collective (RCC), a French labour law mechanism that allows companies to negotiate voluntary employee departures with trade unions.

Under the law, the company can negotiate the terms of the exit plan with employee representatives or the trade unions. Employees can then apply for voluntary leave under the agreed terms, which is not the same as compulsory layoffs. Interested employees must submit their applications by November 5, according to the report.

Meta’s severance package

Employees who voluntarily agree to leave would receive 2.15 months' salary for every year of service. For instance, if you've worked for five years, then you would receive compensation equivalent to 10.75 months of salary. Employees would receive 80% of their gross salary during this period.

Alongside financial benefits, Meta will also offer professional retraining to develop new skills and provide support for starting their own businesses. This makes Meta's exit package rank among the more generous severance offers in the technology industry.