Now Meta starts laying off workers! Facebook lays off 60 contractors

2022-08-19

Now Meta starts laying off workers: Facebook terminates 60 contractors who were told in video conference that they were chosen ‘at random’ by an algorithm to get fired – just days after Apple got rid of recruitment staff

The layoffs are the latest example of Big Tech reining in spending and hiring, as just days ago Apple let go of about 100 recruiters
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also recently said he will weed out underperforming employees with ‘aggressive performance reviews’
The contractors are employed via Accenture in their Austin office, a company that has a deal worth nearly half a billion dollars a year to staff up the company
The layoffs were announced during a video conference call Tuesday and they were not immediately offered new jobs or transfers by Accenture
Accenture representatives stunningly told a worker who asked how the layoffs were determined that an algorithm chose people at random

A group of about 60 contractors who work with Facebook learned they were laid off this week after they were chosen ‘at random’ by an algorithm.

The layoffs are the latest example of Big Tech reining in spending and hiring, as just days ago Apple let go of about 100 recruiters.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also recently said he will weed out underperforming employees with ‘aggressive performance reviews’ as the company braces for a deep economic turndown.

The contractors are employed via Accenture in their Austin office, a company that has a deal worth nearly half a billion dollars a year to staff up the company with workers in content moderation and business integrity.

The layoffs were announced during a video conference call Tuesday and they were not immediately offered new jobs or transfers by Accenture, according to Business Insider.

A spokesperson for Facebook, when asked about the news by DailyMail.com, said: ‘Thank you for the inquiry, however, we have no comment’.

A group of about 60 contractors who work with Meta’s Facebook through Accenture learned they were laid off after they were chosen ‘at random’ by an algorithm

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also recently said he will weed out underperforming employees with ‘aggressive performance reviews’ as the company braces for a deep economic turndown

The contractors were told they could ‘reapply’ for any newly available job for the next two weeks but that their current work will be gone by September 2 and will be paid through October 3.

Accenture representatives stunningly told a worker who asked how the layoffs were determined that an algorithm chose people at random and gave no specific reason for why the employees’ jobs were being cut.

It’s not the first time employees have lost their job via algorithm. In August 2021, Xsolla – a company that offers payment processing for the gaming industry – laid off 150 individuals an algorithm determined were ‘unengaged and unproductive’, according to Game Developer.

In June, Zuckerberg said the company would be ‘turning up the heat’ on performance management to weed out staffers unable to meet more aggressive goals.

‘Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,’ he said.

‘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 said.

Last month, Meta said it would pause hiring and cut hiring plans for new engineers by 30 percent

Apple has reportedly laid off many of its contract-based recruiters after warning that it would slow hiring and rein in spending. CEO Tim Cook is seen above

Apple, headquartered in Cupertino, California (above) had about 154,000 full-time equivalent employees as of its last report

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told employees that the company will be ‘slowing down the pace of hiring for the rest of the year’

In May, Meta said it would pause hiring and at the Q&A session, Zuckerberg said he would cut hiring plans for new engineers by 30 percent – instead of the initial plan to hire 10,000, Meta would hire between 6,000 and 7,000.

Apple has laid off many of its contract-based recruiters after warning that it would slow hiring and rein in spending, according to a new report.

In the past week, Apple let go about 100 contractors responsible for vetting and hiring new employees, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Monday.

Last month, Apple reportedly warned staff of plans to slow hiring and spending growth next year in some divisions.

In May, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced plans to lay off 10 percent of salaried staff, saying he had ‘a super bad feeling about the economy.’

Netflix, which has struggled with two consecutive quarters of net subscriber losses, cut headcount by 150 in May and another 300 in June.

Google parent Alphabet also said last month it would slow the pace of hiring for the rest of the year.

Amazon is reportedly thinning the ranks of its hourly employees through attrition, and recently paused the construction of six new office buildings in Bellevue and Nashville.

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