Facebook is the latest major technology corporation to initiate mass layoffs, randomly selecting 60 contractual staff using an algorithm.
The displaced contractors at Accenture’s Austin, Texas headquarters were informed of the decision in a Tuesday video call and were not provided a clear explanation as to why they will lose their positions, Business Insider reported on Friday.
As the company prepares for a serious economic slump, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, reportedly stated that “tough performance reviews” will be used to weed out staff.
Zuckerberg said, “Realistically, there are certainly a number of employees who shouldn’t be here.”
The contractual workers were hired by Meta – formerly Facebook Inc – through Accenture’s Austin office, despite the company’s roughly $500 million contract with Meta to equip the company’s workforce in content moderation and business integrity.
The most recent manifestation of Big Tech’s reduced expenditure and hiring is the occurrence of layoffs.
Reportedly, the impacted Facebook staff were informed that their employment will cease on September 2, although they will be paid through October 3.
Image: Financial News London
Accenture said it gave the contractors the option to “reapply” for available work within the company within the next two weeks. According to employees, Accenture informed them that the process would include further rounds of interviews and “no certainty” that anyone would be rehired.
In response to DailyMail.com’s question, a Facebook representative stated, “Thank you for your inquiry, but we have no comment.”
It is not the first time that a computer algorithm has been granted the authority to terminate employees. According to Game Developer, around 150 employees of Xsolla, a payment processing company for the gaming industry, were discharged in August of last year after an algorithm determined they were “disengaged and unproductive.”
In May, Meta announced that it would suspend hiring, and during the Q&A session, Zuckerberg disclosed that he would reduce hiring plans for new engineers by 30 percent; instead of the initial goal to hire 10,000, Meta would hire between 6,000 and 7,000.
According to a new report, Apple has dismissed a large number of its contract-based recruiters after warning that it would restrict hiring and reduce spending.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, recently disclosed a roughly $3 billion loss on its metaverse initiative, Reality Labs. The metaverse division has failed to generate a profit for the second straight quarter.
Diem, Meta’s cryptocurrency experiment, was shut down in February of this year.
The Diem Association, which manages the project, has announced the $182 million sale of the cryptocurrency venture’s assets to Silvergate Capital Corporation.
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