The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Meta (Facebook), Mark Zuckerberg, has explained how the company would compensate 11,000 workers about 13% of its workforce after laying them off on Wednesday.
The move is coming barely a week after Twitter cut its staff by 3,700.
The employees were laid off due to the backlash of the gains of the COVID-19 pandemic which paved way for e-commerce at that time but as countries started easing restrictions e-commerce demands began to drop.
In a message to staff shared in the Meta Newsroom, Zuckerberg explained that aside from the layoffs, the company is taking other measures to cut costs. He hinted that the company had over-invested at the start of COVID-19 and now making efforts toward correction.
“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.
However, Zuckerberg assured that laid off staff will be duly compensate.
He explains,
“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 We’ll provide three months of career support with an external vendor, including early access to unpublished job leads.
“What about those on Immigration visas? Meta can’t do much about that as you might have to leave the country when your visa expires. However, they will give you a specialist who can support you through the process.
“Immigration support. 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.”
“What international staff will get: According to Meta, the international staff will also get a similar compensation to those in the US in accordance with local laws.
“Outside the US, support will be similar, and we’ll follow up soon with separate processes that take into account local employment laws.”
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