This Thursday was like no other in the life of ‘Metamates’ across Facebook’s offices including in India. A day after some 11,000 layoffs around the world were announced at Menlo Park-headquartered Facebook, now rebranded Meta, a large number of employees in India got the dreaded email communication telling them they had lost their job.
Sources in the know said that emails started coming in early in the morning.
The number of layoffs in India could not be confirmed.
Social media reflected the mood among start-ups and Big Tech employees across locations. There were some who were very new to the job, waiting for the first salary perhaps. Instead they got the pink slip. Himanshu V was one such. He had relocated to Canada from India and within two days he received a notice of termination. “I relocated to Canada to join #Meta and 2 days after joining, my journey came to an end as I am impacted by the massive layoff,” he wrote on his LinkedIn page.
Himanshu, a graduate of IIT Kharagpur and having worked with Github, Flipkart and Adobe, expressed his concern for those who are facing a difficult situation now. As for his plans, he wrote: “Honestly, I have no idea! I’m looking forward to whatever comes next. Let me know if you know of any position or hiring for a software engineer (Canada or India).”
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta and among the richest in the world, announced on Thursday that the company was firing 13 per cent, or 11,000, of its associates, in one of its biggest-ever layoffs. Recently, microblogging site Twitter laid off a large majority of its employees soon after Elon Musk took charge of the company following a $44-billion deal.
Throughout the day, employees took to Twitter to support others going through a similar ordeal.
Abheyraj Singh, who works for Meta in Germany, tweeted: “have been fortunate enough to not be impacted by the layoffs at Meta. This doesn’t apply to so many of my colleagues. It is a sad time in the tech industry. I really hope this ends soon. Sending strength and love to everyone out there going through tough times.”
Roxana Del Toro, another Meta employee who survived, said: “Made it through the Meta layoffs today. I’ll continue supporting all the ridiculously talented developers building things we’ve only imagined.’’
The employees who’ve been fired will get 16 weeks of base pay, plus two additional weeks for every year of service, with no cap.
The company will also provide three months of career support with an external vendor, including early access to unpublished job leads to all those who have been laid off, Zuckerberg said.
“The teammates who will be leaving us are talented and passionate, and have made an important impact on our company and community. Each of you have helped make Meta a success, and I’m grateful for it. I’m sure you’ll go on to do great work at other places,” said Zuckerberg, in his note to the employees who won’t return to what was a dream job not too long ago.
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