Meta exec tells managers to ‘exit’ workers who are ‘coasting’ and ‘failing’
Facebook parent Meta is reportedly telling its managers to force out laggard employees who are “coasting” and “failing” the company as it grapples with slowing revenue growth and the increasing threat of a recession.
The stark directive came from Maher Saba, Meta’s vice president of remote presence — who told managers they had until 5 p.m. local time Monday to identify workers who “need support.”
“If a direct report is coasting or a low performer, they are not who we need; they are failing this company,” Saba said in a post on Meta’s internal messaging platform, according to The Information. “As a manager, you cannot allow someone to be net neutral or negative for Meta.”
Saba noted that the managers should “move to exit people who are unable to get on track.” It’s unclear if Saba or Meta’s upper management have set a timeframe in which workers could be ousted.
The Post has reached out to Meta representatives for further comment.
Saba’s instructions for managers surfaced about two weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that he wanted to raise expectations for workers in order to cut ties with those who could not meet the higher standard.
Zuckerberg delivered the message during an internal Q&A session with employees in which he warned that the markets were on the verge of what “might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history.”
“Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Zuckerberg 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 added.
Meta shares have plummeted more than 50% so far this year, outpacing even the Nasdaq index’s sharp plunge into bear territory.
As The Post reported earlier this year, the downturn in share prices has caused discord among Meta employees, with some complaining that the poor performance was killing their stock-based incentives.
Difficult economic conditions are just one of many challenges for Meta. The company is set to navigate a widely panned shift into the metaverse without the presence of outgoing COO Sheryl Sandberg, who is set to leave the company later this year.
Sandberg is credited with spearheading development of the ad sales business that turned Facebook into a revenue juggernaut.
Meta enacted a hiring freeze in May, shortly after the company’s earnings release revealed revenue grew just 7% to $27.9 billion in the first quarter — the slowest pace of growth since the company went public.
At the time, company representatives said Meta was not planning to implement layoffs.
