Meta Job Cuts Surprise Employees with Strong Performance Ratings

Several Meta employees who reported receiving positive performance ratings in their mid-year reviews last year had their jobs cut on Monday, as the company laid off nearly 4,000 workers in its latest round of reductions.

Business Insider interviewed eight terminated employees, who indicated they received "At or Above Expectations" ratings -- the middle tier of Meta's three-level mid-year review system -- in their 2024 assessments. These employees expressed surprise upon learning their ratings had been downgraded to "Meets Most," one of the lower tiers in Meta's year-end performance evaluation system that signifies meeting most but not all expectations, potentially qualifying them for Monday's cuts. They requested anonymity due to company policy regarding internal matters.

The job cuts are part of Meta's strategy to reduce approximately 5% of its lowest-performing workers, according to internal guidance shared with managers in January. Though Meta presented these layoffs as targeting underperforming employees, guidance sent last month by Hillary Champion, Meta's director of people experience, suggested that managers could also include higher-rated employees if they could not sufficiently reduce their numbers from lower-rated ones alone.

Many employees reported feeling blindsided by their inclusion in the layoffs, as this information had been communicated solely to managers without broader employee knowledge.

“I was surprised when I received the email, mostly because I have a solid performance history and no indications of performance issues in the last six months,” one affected employee told Business Insider.

Meta commenced its year-end performance review process for 2024 in December, while most employees are not expected to learn their final ratings until the upcoming weeks.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been advocating for streamlining Meta's workforce amidst the company's significant investments in artificial intelligence and virtual reality. These layoffs may become a regular occurrence as Meta seeks to routinely eliminate what it views as low performers. Concurrently, Meta intends to increase the hiring of machine learning engineers to advance AI initiatives.

Meta did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Numerous employees conveyed frustration over Meta's public narrative framing the layoffs as targeting consistently low performers, given that several affected individuals had strong prior performance reviews.

In posts on Workplace, Meta’s internal communications platform, several laid-off employees shared their performance histories, based on screenshots reviewed by Business Insider. One terminated employee who noted they were “unexpectedly” let go provided documentation demonstrating they had consistently met or exceeded expectations for four years before receiving a downgraded rating to "Meets Most" at the end of 2024. Another reported being laid off shortly after returning from parental leave, despite an "At or Above Expectations" rating in early 2024.

“I am super confused about how I was terminated,” they expressed. “I still think this is an error.”

The abrupt downgrade in performance ratings left numerous employees feeling misrepresented by Meta's public stance on the layoffs. Some employees feared that the label of "low performer" could adversely affect their future job prospects.

“The hardest part is that Meta publicly asserts they are cutting low performers, making us feel like we have a scarlet letter on our backs,” another employee remarked. “People should understand that we are not underperformers.”

“I would certainly challenge Meta’s narrative about only cutting low performers,” said another affected employee. “I find it very hard to believe I was a low performer based on the past feedback I received from my manager.”

Another employee mentioned their manager had given no indication that their job was in jeopardy.

“We were informed by leadership that if we were going to be impacted, we would have been expecting it based on conversations our managers should have been having with us in our weekly one-on-ones,” one former employee stated. “But I was completely blindsided by this. My manager had told me that I was doing great and provided no areas for improvement. My manager even assured me that I would be fine and not affected.”

Similarly, another worker who received an "Exceeds Expectations" rating in their mid-year review shared they were surprised to have been “dropped two ratings” to "Meets Most" without any explanation.

“We can’t even see the feedback our manager provided for us,” they noted.