Meta Rules Out New Mass Performance-Based Cuts
Meta has clarified internally that it is not repeating last year's 5% workforce reduction for low-performing employees. The company is instead focusing on targeted structural changes within specific divisions, signaling a shift from broad cuts to strategic realignment.
- The recent move away from mass cuts follows a period dubbed the "year of efficiency," which saw Meta lay off around 21,000 employees in late 2022 and early 2023. This restructuring aimed to flatten the organization by removing layers of management. - To boost developer productivity, Meta has been investing heavily in internal AI-powered tools. One such tool, an AI agent named "WhatsCode," has been used within WhatsApp to automate the generation of code for privacy-related tasks, successfully creating over 3,000 accepted code changes. - Meta is also changing how it assesses engineering talent by incorporating AI into its hiring process. As of late 2025, some candidates participate in an "AI-enabled coding interview" where they have access to an AI assistant, a format designed to better reflect a real-world development environment. - For frontend engineers, Meta recently open-sourced the React Compiler, which has been in development for several years. The company reported that using the compiler on Instagram.com resulted in up to a 12% improvement in initial load and cross-page navigation times. - The company is actively building out its developer ecosystem around its Llama models, recently releasing SDKs for Python and JavaScript, and an enhanced VS Code extension to help developers integrate AI into their applications. - For engineers considering a move into management, leaders at Meta emphasize a "bottom-up culture" where managers are expected to "support" their teams rather than "manage" them. The career path for senior individual contributors is valued as a parallel track to management, with a focus on technical and product leadership. - Meta's engineering culture encourages managers to delegate significant technical decisions to engineers. In the engineering manager interview process, there is a focus on a candidate's ability to empower their team and less on their day-to-day coding abilities. - To improve the developer experience, Meta has launched a new "Meta for Developers" hub, which consolidates resources for its various platforms, including AI, social technologies, and the metaverse.
