Mass layoffs continue in 2024: Google and Meta lay off hundreds of people
Despite the fact that it is still not very far, the new year 2024 has already taken over one, not so nice feature from the old one: mass layoffs. Tech giants Google and Meta have already started laying off a large number of people, with Meta saying goodbye to 60 technical managers for the Instagram app, and Google laying off hundreds of employees in various departments from hardware to the Assistant sector.
In the case of Meta, which owns a host of online communication apps, the mass layoffs are part of a plan to “reduce middle management,” reports Engadget.
When company owner Mark Zuckerberg announced last year that Meta was laying off a whopping 10,000 jobs, he described 2023 as a “year of efficiency” characterized by shedding layers of middle management to create a more flexible organization.
However, it is clear that the company has not yet finished restructuring its organization. Meta recently informed at least 60 of its employees on the Instagram app to completely terminate their position. Affected employees are technical program managers, but also people who fall between Meta technical workers such as engineers, and higher-level product managers.
Shutterstock / kovopThe workers who are losing their jobs have reportedly been given the opportunity to be interviewed for possible product manager consideration. By March, those who chose to leave or were not offered new roles will no longer have a job at the company. Meta also laid off 11,000 people in the fall of 2022, in addition to the 10,000 who were laid off last year.
That wasn't enough, as the company also instituted a hiring freeze and closed thousands of open positions it was originally hiring for.
Mass layoffs at Google as well
In addition to the company Meta, but not only it, but also the one known for learning foreign languages Duolingo, and Google has (again) entered into mass layoffs, Engadget also reveals.
Google is outpacing Zuckerberg's company in this round of layoffs, with hundreds of employees losing their jobs in the assistant, hardware, core engineering and Google Assistant sectors.
ShutterstockEstimates of these dismissals go to the number of at least 600 jobs, and the decisions about this have allegedly already entered into force and people have been informed about it.
„We invest responsibly in the highest priorities of our company and in the significant opportunities ahead“, a company spokesperson said in a statement to the NYT.
As part of these changes, Google is reportedly reorganizing its Pixel, Nest and Fitbit divisions, with Fitbit founders James Park, Eric Friedman and other leaders also leaving the company. Google will reportedly have a single team responsible for hardware engineering across all of these departments.
„We've made some tough decisions about the ongoing work of some Googlers and regret to inform you that your position is being terminated“, the company announced to some employees in the basic engineering sector, many portals report.
Last year, Google also made one of its biggest job cuts ever last year, laying off about 12,000 people in January. At the end of last year, the company had 182,381 employees, and considering that it counted more than 220,000 layoffs in 2023, it is very likely that the total number of employees will be much smaller at the end of this year as well.