Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Year of Efficiency’ is turning into a multi-year effort as Meta gets hit with another round of layoffs

Meta Platforms laid off employees from multiple teams, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs, in a fresh wave of job cuts at the Facebook parent company on Wednesday.

“A few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy,” said a Meta spokesperson in an emailed statement to Fast Company. “This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles. In situations like this when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees.”

Among the affected employees is Jane Manchun Wong, who took to Meta-owned Threads to announce the news. “I’m still trying to process this but I’m informed that my role at Meta has been impacted,” Wong wrote in a public Threads post on Wednesday.

Some employees were given the option of taking a different position under a new contract, or taking a severance package, with several choosing the latter, an anonymous former Meta employee told TechCrunch.

Meta declined to provide details on the number of employees affected.

Zuck’s “Year of Efficiency” continues

Meta has experienced multiple rounds of layoffs following aggressive hiring during the pandemic. It first announced that it was reducing its workforce back in November 2022, a notable change of direction at the social-networking giant after years of head-spinning growth.

Layoffs continued the following year, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg proclaiming 2023 the “Year of Efficiency,” a strategy also adopted by other Big Tech companies after pandemic-era hiring. And earlier this year, Meta’s Reality Labs division, which produces virtual reality and augmented reality hardware and software, also saw a small series of job cuts.

Last week, Meta also reportedly fired about two dozen staff in Los Angeles for routinely misusing $25 meal credits to buy non-food items over an extended period of time, according to the Financial Times.