Meta began layoffs for U.S. employees at 5 a.m. PT on Monday, letting employees know in the event that they have been nonetheless employed through emails. The job cuts affected 5% of Meta’s 72,000-person international workforce, or about 3,600 workers, and have been framed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg as a technique to transfer out low performers on the firm.
Nevertheless, a brand new report from Enterprise Insider discovered some affected employees had a observe report of excessive achievement, performing nicely of their 2024 midyear evaluations earlier than abruptly being downgraded to a decrease tier in Meta’s 2024 year-end efficiency evaluation system.
Enterprise Insider interviewed eight laid-off employees who advised the outlet that they acquired mid-level “At or Above Expectations” scores on their midyear 2024 assessments however have been pushed right down to “Meets Most,” a lower-level score, for his or her 2024 year-end efficiency evaluations. The decrease score brought on them to be fired on Monday.
Associated: Meta Informs Staff that Layoffs Will Begin Monday Morning in a Now-Leaked Internal Memo
Inner steering sent to Meta managers in January from Hillary Champion, Meta’s director of individuals growth development applications, advised managers to carry workers from larger efficiency classes into decrease efficiency tiers to fulfill targets. Managers had to make sure that 12% to fifteen% of their crew was grouped within the “Meets Most” or under classes, making them eligible for layoffs.
Terminated workers with regular histories of excessive efficiency have been shocked once they received the e-mail on Monday.
“Once I acquired the e-mail I used to be shocked by it principally as a result of I’ve a really stable efficiency historical past and no indicators of the final six months of efficiency issues,” a terminated Meta worker advised BI.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs
Different laid-off workers posted their previous efficiency studies to Office, Meta’s inner platform, with one affected employee stating that they met or exceeded expectations for 4 years earlier than being pushed right down to “Meets Most” in late 2024.
One other employee mentioned they abruptly dropped two score ranges from “Exceeds Expectations” of their midyear 2024 assessments to “Meets Most” for his or her 2024 year-end evaluation with none supervisor suggestions about why that they had been downgraded.
Associated: Meta Reminds Staff of Its Strict No-Leaks Policy — That Has Since Been Leaked to the Press
These terminated workers query Meta’s public stance that the layoffs solely affected low performers and say that the corporate may harm the reputations of affected workers as they search for new work.
“The toughest half is Meta publicly stating they’re chopping low performers, so it seems like we’ve the scarlet letter on our backs,” one affected worker advised BI. “Individuals have to know we’re not underperformers.”
“Now individuals have to return out into the job market with a label that’s extremely unfair,” one other Meta worker previously told BI.
