Facebook-parent Meta has been on a roller-coaster ride lately that includes CEO Mark Zuckerberg declaring that “year of excellence”, killing thousands of employees, and cutting perks. Some of the moves are reflected in the strong performance of the company’s stock, which boosted Zuckerberg’s net worth by $46.6 billion to $92.3 billion this yearaccording to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Despite the profits, the mandate for Meta employees is to become “poorer.”
“Going through restructuring and layoffs and changes like this is obviously a very difficult thing,” Zuckerberg told employees on a company-wide call Thursday, according to the Washington Post. “So it’s not like we’re going to be exactly where we were before because that’s not my goal. I want to go somewhere really trashy. “
Since last year, Meta has implemented two rounds of job cuts: 11,000 in November and another 10,000 announced in March. All of the firings fall under Zuckerberg’s broader restructuring to achieve greater effectiveness.
He told employees that one of his goals was to have “a stronger technology company that can make better products faster,” The Post reported. Another reason is to improve Meta’s financial performance to fund long-term projects amid a challenging economic environment.
During the pandemic, the company continued a hiring spreewhich doubled its workforce from 2020. But that backfired because employees saw themselves “hidden” like Pokémon cards and lacking any real work to do.
Zuckerberg’s announcement of a “year of excellence”, more energy first quarter earnings raised investor optimism and helped send company shares up 23% that day. Meanwhile, Meta’s investments in artificial intelligence and the virtual world of the metaverse are still ongoing, according to Bloomberg. The company unveiled its computer chips last week which can improve AI and video processing infrastructure.
Meta’s goal is to be “scrappier” to borrow a term that is often used describe the beginnings which are strapped for money and resources, and therefore need to take advantage of what is available. Zuckerberg reportedly said he wanted Meta to be less bureaucratic so work could be done faster even with fewer workers.
“It just forces us to find ways to be scrappier and get things done more efficiently,” Zuckerberg said, according to the Post. “This means there are fewer environments or projects where there are more cooks in the kitchen, which is just one type of common complaint I hear all the time across the company.”
In an earnings call earlier this year, Zuckerberg suggested slashing management layers to make the organization stronger and daily operations more efficient.
Meta did not return immediately luckThis is a request for comment.