Meta jobs: Hiring for ML engineers is accelerated, and layoffs start on February 10; some European staff are exempt. Specifics

With the exception of certain European workers, Meta is anticipated to begin worldwide layoffs on February 10. According to an internal memo, the corporation also wants to hire machine learning professionals as quickly as possible in order to meet its strategic targets for 2025.

According to an internal message, Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other digital divisions, is anticipated to begin worldwide and company-wide layoffs on Monday, February 10, according to Reuters.

Additionally, the message provided to employees revealed that Meta wants to hasten the hiring of machine learning (ML) engineers even as the job layoffs start next week.

The report also noted that a Meta representative did not answer questions.

Layoffs at Meta Will Start on February 10

• In most countries, including the US, sacked employees will start receiving warnings at 5 a.m. local time, according to a Reuters article that cited a post by Janelle Gale, Head of People at Meta.
  
  
• Some people are exempt, though. Local regulations in France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands will shield workers from Meta's layoffs.
  
  
• However, the source also stated that over a dozen other employees in Africa, Europe, and Asia will receive pink slips between February 11 and 18.
  
  
• In her post, Gale added that Meta would maintain office operations on February 10 in contrast to prior layoffs.

"Expedited" Hiring for Machine Learning Positions
Additionally, Peng Fan, VP of technical for Monetization at Meta, requested in a separate memo that staff members "assist with an expedited hiring process for machine learning engineers" and other "business critical" technical roles, as included in the report.

Fan said, "Thank you for your continued support in helping us achieve our accelerated hiring goals, and better align with our company's priorities for 2025." The hiring is expected to take place between February 11 and March 13, according to the message.

Meta Jobs Are Being Cut Off

According to a Bloomberg article earlier in January, which cited an internal memo from CEO Mark Zuckerberg to staff, Meta Platforms is laying off about 5% of its workforce, or 3,600 jobs, based on performance and will rehire for those positions. It had stated that by February 10, affected employees will be notified.

"I've decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster," stated the memo that Zuckerberg addressed to every employee. We usually fire employees who don't live up to expectations over the course of a year, but this cycle, we're planning to implement more extensive performance-based layoffs.

He also stated that Meta will "provide generous severance" in accordance with previous layoffs and that only workers who had worked for the company long enough to be eligible for a performance evaluation would be included. Since Meta employed around 72,000 workers as of September 2024, at least 3,600 jobs would be impacted by a 5% drop.