Meta will cut roughly 10 percent of its global workforce — nearly 8,000 employees — on Wednesday, May 20, a move internal sources say has left employee morale unusually low as the company pivots large sums toward new AI development. The planned layoffs intensify an ongoing contraction and raise questions about recruiting, internal operations, and the governance of emerging AI projects.
A human resources leader framed the layoffs as a step “to run the company more efficiently” and to offset other investments, while current and former staff describe a grim atmosphere across teams with few spared from uncertainty. Employees say the new round of cuts will add to about 25,000 job reductions Meta has announced over the past four years. Staffers reported mandatory role changes for hundreds of senior engineers and the deployment of corporate software on employee machines to collect activity data intended for AI training. Those measures, employees say, contribute to anxiety about privacy, job stability, and the shape of future internal workstreams.
Compensation adjustments have deepened discontent. Meta reduced the share portion of annual raises by another 5 percent on top of last year’s 10 percent reduction, and public filings show median total compensation fell to $388,200 last year from $417,400 in 2024. At the same time, Meta’s stock is down roughly 5 percent this year as the company shifts budget away from underperforming virtual reality projects toward pricier AI efforts, even while its advertising business continues to perform well.
Many employees say they would prefer to be laid off rather than remain; reported severance packages include a minimum of 16 weeks of pay and 18 months of continued health coverage. Some staffers allege the company’s turmoil is already hampering recruitment, a claim the company rejects. In the United Kingdom, workers are organizing with United Tech & Allied Workers, arguing that unionization is needed to protect jobs, benefits, and worker privacy.
Beyond the immediate cuts and pay changes, employees point to widening internal pay gaps, recent courtroom losses, and mandated role shifts as contributors to low morale. Multiple people said that only those with top pay packages or who are deeply involved in core AI work appear to be thriving amid the restructuring. Sources declined to be named because company rules restrict unsanctioned conversations with journalists.
Meta largely declined to discuss specifics but pointed to prior public statements about job reductions and new AI projects. Spokesperson Tracy Clayton said, “There are safeguards in place to protect sensitive content, and the data is not used for any other purpose,” in reference to the tracking software. The reported rollout of employee data collection for model training underscores near-term operational and data-governance questions for organizations deploying internal AI.
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