Report: Meta shedding staff amid cost-cutting push in 2022

Grappling with slowing growth, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is looking to trim its headcount over the next few months.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the reductions are part of the tech giant’s plan to cut costs by at least 10 per cent as 2022 winds down.

While the company isn’t using the term “layoffs”, executives say departments are being reorganized and affected workers have been given a certain amount of time to apply for other roles.

In a memo to staff earlier this year, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox said Meta is in “serious times here and the headwinds are fierce.”

“We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets,” he added.

The company didn’t disclose how many Canadian workers will be affected by the cuts.

The announcement comes after several North American tech companies, including Shopify, Snap, Hootsuite, Article, Unbounce, Clearco, Q4, and Wealthsimple, have significantly reduced their workforces as they continue to monitor market conditions.

As of June 30, Meta reportedly had more than 83,000 employees.

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• Employment lawyer on mass layoffs in the tech industry
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Termination agreements for Meta employees

In Canada, non-unionized employees at Meta are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing or corporate restructuring.

Severance can be as much as 24 months’ pay, depending on a number of factors.

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• Severance for technology industry employees
• Severance for provincially regulated employees
• Severance packages in mass layoffs

WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains why you are still owed severance if you have been downsized on an episode of the Employment Law Show.

Before you accept any severance offer, have an experienced employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP review it and your employment contract.

We can tell you if what you have been provided is fair and how to get proper severance if it falls short of what you are actually owed.

If you don’t receive the full amount, which happens often, you have been wrongfully dismissed and are entitled to compensation.