Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly giving many of Meta’s middle managers an ultimatum: Stop managing other employees and find something more productive — or quit.
The executive cut — referred to internally as “flattening” — comes just days after Zuckerberg called 2023 a company-wide “performance year” and signaled further cost cuts are on the way. .
Meta-managers and directors targeted in the initiative will be asked to move into an “individual partner” role in the company – such as coding, design or research – or exit entirely. Bloomberg reported, Citing people familiar with the matter. Managers are no longer responsible for supervising other employees.
Executives are expected to break the news to affected employees in the coming weeks, the outlet’s source added. Any job cuts are expected to be gradual and made on a case-by-case basis separate from the annual review process.
The outlet said some Meta employees have expressed support for changes to the company’s leadership structure — which Zuckerberg and others have said had become too bloated and ineffective.
Meta is looking to cut middle management as part of an ongoing cost-cutting drive that included a major furlough last November. Zuckerberg blamed overly aggressive hiring practices and worsening economic conditions as Meta cut more than 11,000 jobs, or about 13 percent of its overall workforce.
The cuts have drawn a positive response from investors and fueled a 53% rally in Meta shares since the start of the year.
It is unclear how many middle managers will eventually be asked to move into individual roles.
The post has reached Meta for further comment.
Zuckerberg directly addressed his plans to shed the ranks of middle management during the company’s second-quarter earnings call last week.
“We’re working on streamlining our organizational structure and removing some layers of middle management to make faster decisions, as well as deploying AI tools to help our engineers be more productive,” Zuckerberg said. Zuckerberg said.
“As part of that, we’re going to be more proactive about reducing projects that aren’t performing or may no longer be important, but my main focus is on increasing that performance. How do we deliver on our top priorities,” he added. .
Meta faced some criticism for its massive layoffs last fall, which came as the company poured billions of dollars into a Metaverse initiative that failed to generate much public interest.
As The Post reported at the time, some of the fired workers were angered by Meta for informing them of the layoffs via email. One employee said she was fired despite being eight months pregnant.
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