A video of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressing his employees virtually on Wednesday was provided to NBC News. The meeting was held around 1 pm ET, hours after the company announced it was going to lay off 13 per cent of its staff.
In the meeting Zuckerberg offered words of appreciation and encouragement to the employees that were fired. The layoff affects about 11,000 people from different sections.
Zuckerberg said, "No matter what team you may have worked on, each of you played a role in contributing to the products that billions of people use to connect every day."
Zuckerberg said that as CEO he takes responsibility for this as he was the one to ultimately take the call. He added, "And it was one of the hardest calls that I’ve had to make in the 18 years of running the company."
He accepted the responsibility, but his authority was never in question. He is a majority shareholder so it is not possible for the board or its shareholders to overrule his decisions.
The employees that are being let go are not sure of how to manage and are scared of the future outcomes, especially those who are visa holders. The company is offering additional support to them and is allowing them to serve notice period and get additional visa grace days.
"I know this is especially difficult if you're here on a visa. There's a notice period before termination and some visa grace periods, which means everyone will have time to make plans and work through their immigration status. We have dedicated immigration specialists to help guide you based on what you and your family need," he said.
The layoffs come at a time when there is a global economic slowdown and the advertising revenue is slowly going down. It is not just Meta, there have been numerous job cuts at other tech companies that hired rapidly during the pandemic.
