Here are 7 head-turning statements from Mark Zuckerberg's sack letter to Meta employees

Facebook's parent company Meta said on Wednesday, November 9, that 11,000 employees will be fired in a bid to reduce the size of its workforce by 13%. This information was put out by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who said that something is happening in the 'history' of Meta.

Here are 7 head-turning statements from Zuckerberg's letter to employees after layoff

Zuckerberg, in his letter to the sacked employees, wrote that he has decided to reduce the staff size by about 13%, and took accountability for it, apologising to those impacted by it.

'Those leaving today...'

The Facebook founder said that access to Meta systems ended for employees leaving today itself, suggesting that they have not been given the option to serve any notice, and have been asked to leave immediately 

"We made the decision to remove access to most Meta systems for people leaving today given the amount of access to sensitive information. But we’re keeping email addresses active throughout the day so everyone can say farewell."

'Extending our hiring freeze'

"Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history. I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1. I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry for those impacted."

'We’re making reductions in every organization'

"While we’re making reductions in every organization across both Family of Apps and Reality Labs, some teams will be affected more than others. Recruiting will be disproportionately affected since we’re planning to hire fewer people next year. We’re also restructuring our business teams more substantially. This is not a reflection of the great work these groups have done, but of what we need going forward. The leaders of each group will schedule a time to discuss what this means for your team over the next couple of days."

'I got this wrong, I take the responsibility'

Explaining his financial miscalculation, Zuckerberg narrated how it led to lower revenue. He said that unlike the period of the COVID-19 pandemic when the surge of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth, how online commerce has now returned to prior trends. 

"At the start of COVID, the world rapidly moved online and the surge of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth. Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended. I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments. Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected. Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that."

'Made the hard decision to let people go'

He further explained why he took the decision to sack employees and said that they are restructuring teams to increase the efficiency of the workforce. 

"In this new environment, we need to become more capital efficient. We’ve shifted more of our resources onto a smaller number of high-priority growth areas — like our AI discovery engine, our ads and business platforms, and our long-term vision for the metaverse. We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint. We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency. But these measures alone won’t bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I’ve also made the hard decision to let people go."

'Everyone will get an email soon letting you know what this layoff means'

"There is no good way to do a layoff, but we hope to get all the relevant information to you as quickly as possible and then do whatever we can to support you through this. Everyone will get an email soon letting you know what this layoff means for you. After that, every affected employee will have the opportunity to speak with someone to get their questions answered and join information sessions."

What will be the Financial compensation? 

He explained how will this layoff work in the US, and added, "Some of the details in the US include: Severance. We will pay 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks for every year of service, with no cap. PTO. We’ll pay for all remaining PTO time. RSU vesting. Everyone impacted will receive their November 15, 2022 vesting. Health insurance. We’ll cover the cost of healthcare for people and their families for six months. Career Services. We’ll provide three months of career support with an external vendor, including early access to unpublished job leads.

How will Meta support sacked employees with immigration status? 

"I know this is especially difficult if you’re here on a visa. There’s a notice period before termination and some visa grace periods, which means everyone will have time to make plans and work through their immigration status. We have dedicated immigration specialists to help guide you based on what you and your family need. Outside the US, support will be similar, and we’ll follow up soon with separate processes that take into account local employment laws."