Meta is relaunching its HR strategy: the company is cutting thousands of employees to invest in AI

Tech giant Meta has officially announced plans to cut its workforce by 10%, affecting approximately 8,000 employees worldwide. This decision became part of the updated strategy of the company to improve operational efficiency. According to internal documents obtained by Bloomberg, the main phase of layoffs is planned for the second half of May.

Large-scale restructuring in Meta

The decision to reduce staff came immediately after analyzing current costs and the need to redistribute resources. At the beginning of the current year, the total number of Meta personnel was almost 79,000. The reduction of 10% of employees will be a significant stage in the life of the corporation, which seeks to optimize its internal processes and strengthen its position in key technological areas.

Characteristics and scope of optimization

As part of the announced strategy, Meta plans to:

• Fire off about 8,000 full-time specialists.
• Completely cancel recruitment for 6,000 already open vacancies.
• Implement internal agents of artificial intelligence to automate part of the work processes.

Start date of layoffs

Mass notices to employees about termination of employment will begin on May 20. Information will be provided through two channels: e-mails will be sent to specialists’ personal and work e-mails. This step will allow the company to implement the main volume of personnel changes in a day.

Compensation package for employees

Despite the layoffs, the company offered its employees substantial compensation. Director of Human Resources Janelle Gale noted that the conditions for the American office will be as follows:

• 16 weeks of basic pay as severance pay.
• Additional 2 weeks of payment for each year worked in the company.
• Health insurance coverage for the employee and his family for 18 months.
• Career and immigration support for those who need it.

Artificial intelligence as a top priority

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has focused the company’s efforts on finding talent and developing infrastructure for AI. Despite projected record spending in 2024 and several large multibillion-dollar deals, corporations need to offset the investment by cutting spending on other items, including personnel. Previously, Meta already implemented special software for tracking employee clicks, the data of which is used to train AI models.

Market trends

Meta isn’t the only tech giant cutting staff to race for leadership in neural networks. Similar steps are taken by Microsoft, which recently offered voluntary retirement to thousands of its employees in the US to reduce the operating burden on the budget.

Should we expect stability in Meta?

The current cuts indicate a profound transformation of the business. For those who planned a career in the company, this is a signal of a paradigm shift: priority is given to autonomous systems and AI technologies. The saved resources will be used to finance high-tech developments, which in the long run can strengthen the company’s financial position on the stock market.