‘Become individual contributors or quit’: Meta asks its employees

Meta Platforms Inc. is asking many of its managers and directors to move into individual contributor positions or leave the company as it seeks to be more efficient, according to people familiar with the matter. The process is known internally as "flattening," the people said.

Senior executives are sharing the directive with their subordinates in the coming weeks, separate from regular reviews of the company's performance, which are now underway, said the people, who asked not to be named to discuss the matter, which was not public. Individual contributors are not in charge of others and instead focus on tasks such as coding, designing, and research.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, laid off 13% of its workforce in November in its first major lay off. In the months that followed, employees faced intense anxiety about potential future cuts, the people said.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained during the company's earnings call this month that he still feels the organization is too slow and bloated. He called 2023 "the year of efficiency" and promised to cut back on middle managers and low-performing projects.

The current round of job cuts will be more gradual, enacted on a case-by-case basis, the people said. Some Meta employees said they felt the change was needed because the organization includes multiple teams competing to achieve similar goals and managers overseeing only one or two employees, the people said.

Meta declined to comment, Zuckerberg's plan for a leaner organization helped the stock price recover from its worst year ever in 2022. This is an increase of over 56% so far this year.