Not being perceived as positive enough could cost employees their jobs at Meta, as the Big Tech company looks to cull “net neutral or negative” employees, the Independent reports.
The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp told management “to think about each person on their team and the value they are adding to Meta,” according to a leaked memo from Maher Saba, Meta vice president of Remote Presence and Engineering.
“If a direct report is coasting or a low performer, they are not who we need; they are failing this company,” Saba wrote. “As a manager, you cannot allow someone to be net neutral or negative for Meta.”
Saba continues by asking managers to “identify anyone who ‘needs support’ ” and flag them using a company performance tool.
“Understand our high performance bar and hold your team accountable,” he wrote. “Identify people who need support early, partner with our Employee Relations team to get that support, and move to exit people who are unable to get on track.”
Goals should be “ambitious yet achievable,” and employees should be operating “with the intensity needed for Meta’s success,” the memo said.
The leaked memo follows reports from earlier this month of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg telling employees they should be prepared for a rough road ahead.
“Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Zuckerberg told employees during a question-and-answer session.
“Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is OK with me,” he added, according to the New York Post.
The Post reports that Meta plans to slow its hiring of engineers by at least 30% this year – adding 6,000-7,000 workers instead of the initially planned 10,000.
It also comes amid staffing reductions at other tech companies, such as Twitter, which recently laid off 30% of its talent acquisition team, two months into a hiring freeze.
Streaming giant Netflix conducted another round of layoffs, cutting 300 employees last month, and 150 the month before, according to the Independent.
