The global economy is struggling at the moment. Inflation has skyrocketed forcing interest rates to be hiked by banking institutions across the world. The situation is compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is showing no signs of peaceful resolution any time soon.
This economic situation is forcing tech employers to introduce hiring freezes, as well as lay off hundreds of staff, in an attempt to cut staff. Examples include Netflix, Uber, crypto companies like Coinbase and Gemini, and Twitter.
Meta has now joined the club of hiring freezes due to a revenue drop in the first quarter of 2022.
It seems that the engineering team will be the first to be affected by the changes, particularly at more senior levels. However, all departments are likely to be affected in the long-term, reported Business Insider.
Inside Meta’s move to become “leaner”
Beyond the hiring freezes at Meta, in response to concerns about the impact of a recession on advertising revenue over the next year, the social media giant has gone one step further.
In an internal memo seen by Reuters and published on its internal communications platform Workplace from Meta, chief product officer Chris Cox wrote that the company needs to “prioritize more ruthlessly” and “operate leaner, meaner, better executing teams”.
“I have to underscore that we are in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce. We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets,” he added.
In a comment to UNLEASH, a Meta spokesperson said: “This was simply an internal strategy memo intended to build on what we’ve already said publicly in earnings about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have, where we’re putting more of our energy toward addressing.”
As things stand, Meta is avoiding lay offs. Instead, the tech giant seems content with its turnover from people leaving.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg commented back in April that he wasn’t concerned about the ‘Great Resignation’: “I’m just trying to lead the company in a way where we position ourselves as the premier company for building the future of social interaction and the metaverse, and if you care about those things, we’re getting the best people to come work here.”
“We’ll see attrition go up and down over time, but I think we’re doing ok now,” said Zuckerberg said. “Over the long term, I think it’s going to make us a better company.”
Only time will tell if Meta has to rethink its hiring and firing strategy to survive a recession.
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