Meta to begin retrenching thousands of staff this week — Report

[Hanno Labuschagne]

Meta to begin retrenching thousands of staff this week — Report

Meta Platforms Inc. is planning to begin layoffs that will affect thousands of workers from this week, Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The job cuts could come as early as Wednesday, the newspaper said.

[Bloomberg]

 

[RedViking]

Elon is on a ro.....

Oh wait.

 

[The_Right_Honourable_Brit]

Good. Tech firms need to face reality once in a while

 

[_TrXtR_]

Yeah big tech been over inflating their value.
Now the big crunch is here.

 

[rvZA]

Shame... the Socialist world will be up in arms....

 

[Moosedrool]

Should've given the avatars legs.

 

[Cius]

All thanks to the metaverse. What a disaster. Building something that big with no clear idea of how to use or monetize it is just hilarious. Feels like the Zuk Bot had some bits switched around by cosmic radiation.

 

[The_Right_Honourable_Brit]

All thanks to the metaverse. What a disaster. Building something that big with no clear idea of how to use or monetize it is just hilarious. Feels like the Zuk Bot had some bits switched around by cosmic radiation.

The losses, in billions of dollars, is really quite something ! Lost $3.7 billion in the latest quarter alone (Q3 2022)

 

[_TrXtR_]

The losses, in billions of dollars, is really quite something ! Lost $3.7 billion in the latest quarter alone (Q3 2022)

virtual dollars

 

[konfab]

Oh wait, turns out re-inventing Second Life, Vr Chat, and Playstation Home is not a sound business.

 

[deweyzeph]

What the F do all these thousands of people actually do? It's always mystified me why these tech companies need so many employees.

 

[PaulMurkin]

What the F do all these thousands of people actually do? It's always mystified me why these tech companies need so many employees.

Its America
They love to hire a person for each and every task, even if its one. That's why they have Vice-presidents for every division in an organization.
And then add to that, no job security... you get the idea

 

[deweyzeph]

Its America
They love to hire a person for each and every task, even if its one. That's why they have Vice-presidents for every division in an organization.
And then add to that, no job security... you get the idea

Hard to have job security when you only do one task. But yes, I've seen the same in the UK too. South African companies are much better at making do with less staff. But that also has a lot to do with our ridiculous labour laws.

 

[koeks525]

It is interesting seeing tech firms reduce their headcount - it negates the general view some people have, that the tech industry and tech related jobs are "invincible". In the last 2 to 3 years, I think a lot of tech companies went on massive hiring sprees and ended up hiring more than they need, owing to short-term gains from COVID-19 lockdowns & restrictions, and relaxed monetary & fiscal policy changes in the global health crisis (interest rates being really low).

With that said, I think most employees by now should have realised that having a job does not mean you are secure, and as such, employees should always have some sort of backup plan in place, to ride the waves of economic uncertainty for a few months, if push comes to shove.

 

[LCBXX]

Looks like tech companies are moving back to outsourcing; get's them out of being responsible.

 

[deweyzeph]

It is interesting seeing tech firms reduce their headcount - it negates the general view some people have, that the tech industry and tech related jobs are "invincible". In the last 2 to 3 years, I think a lot of tech companies went on massive hiring sprees and ended up hiring more than they need, owing to short-term gains from COVID-19 lockdowns & restrictions. If it isn't downsizing of the labour force, some companies have implemented hiring freezes.

With that said, I think most employees by now should have realised that having a job does not mean you are secure, and as such, employees should always have some sort of backup plan in place, to ride the waves of economic uncertainty for a few months, if push comes to shove.

It depends on what you do in that tech company. Developers generally will always have job-security in these sense that even if they get retrenched there is always another job waiting for them. It's the non-techy staff in the tech companies that are the first to go.

 

[PaulMurkin]

It depends on what you do in that tech company. Developers generally will always have job-security in these sense that even if they get retrenched there is always another job waiting for them. It's the non-techy staff in the tech companies that are the first to go.

It depends.
I happen to know someone well, stateside, as it goes. He got fired the other day.
He was the most skilled tech they had... and they just let him go. Just like that. So he left. Now he has his own business.

But yes... no labour laws like back in SA, you pitch at work one day and get told to F-off... In America, the boss can fire you even if he doesn't like your face that day for some reason and nothing you can do.

 

[deweyzeph]

But yes... no labour laws like back in SA, you pitch at work one day and get told to F-off... In America, the boss can fire you even if he doesn't like your face that day for some reason and nothing you can do.

That's exactly why the American economy is so flexible. Our government still hasn't realised the link between our rigid labour laws and the high unemployment we suffer from. They would rather have a low number of people in secure work than a high number of people in unsecure work. It's been shown over and over again that the latter benefits the economy far more than the former.

 

[PaulMurkin]

That's exactly why the American economy is so flexible. Our government still hasn't realised the link between our rigid labour laws and the high unemployment we suffer from. They would rather have a low number of people in secure work than a high number of people in unsecure work. It's been shown over and over again that the latter benefits the economy far more than the former.

With flexibility comes other downsides...
No job security = stress... early death, and I am observing the rise of Americans becoming content creators instead of working for an ******* boss.

 

[konfab]

With flexibility comes other downsides...
No job security = stress... early death, and I am observing the rise of Americans becoming content creators instead of working for an ******* boss.

Anyone who thinks being a content creator is not stressful is naive. Youtube can for any reason they want to, end your business.
Your job security shouldn't come from laws written by communists. It should come from the fact that every employee should strive to make themselves difficult to replace.