Meta layoffs: More job cuts likely? Here’s what Mark Zuckerberg told employees

Tech major Meta may let go of middle managers, a new report suggests, with Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg hinting at revising the management structure. The report adds that if one reads between the lines, this could mean more layoffs are coming.

In an internal employee Q&A last week, Zuckerberg said managers should not be rewarded for creating larger teams. "I don't think you want a management structure that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work," he said, according to a weekly newsletter Command Line from The Verge.

The development comes after Meta’s Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, earlier in January, highlighted the need to "flatten" the organisational structure in an internal Workplace post.

In November 2022, Meta said it was cutting more than 11,000 roles that is 13 percent of its staff. Zuckerberg took accountability for the decision and said the firm overhired during the COVID-19 pandemic amid predictions of continued surge of e-commerce. “I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that,” he said.

In the latest Q&A session, CEO Zuckerberg reflected on efficiency and said work was underway to build Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, similar to ChatGPT, that are trained on Meta's codebase to assist engineers with basic coding internally. He suggested that such AI tools could eventually help non-engineers, though it sounded like that is still far from reality.

Also, last week, reports emerged that BuzzFeed Inc has reached a deal with Meta Platforms Inc and plans to use artificial intelligence to personalise and enhance the digital media firm's online quizzes and content.

The deal, reached last year, was valued at close to $10 million and BuzzFeed will help generate content for Meta's platforms and train creators to grow their presence online, the report cited by Reuters said, quoting people privy to the matter.