The Meta Group is streamlining its corporate structure and demoting management positions, reports show.
About a week ago, the company began downgrading vacancies from the M1 level to the E6 level, according to two employees familiar with the change.
M1 at Meta is typically the first managerial level for senior engineers. E6 is a senior engineering position, but outside of management.
Mark Zuckerberg’s order to “flatten” Meta’s organizational structure takes off, leaving employees anxious about changes to their jobs and anticipated layoffs. About a week ago, the company formerly known as Facebook began downgrading vacancies from the M1 tier to the E6 tier, according to two employees familiar with the change.
An M1 at Meta is typically the first level manager for the senior engineers. An E6 is a senior engineer, often seen as a team leader but remaining outside of management. The move is part of a larger change at Meta to streamline the organization and remove some layers of management.
The demotion of the M1 roles is impacting positions open to internal transfers as Meta remains stuck in a broad hiring freeze. However, staff suspect the change will soon affect many current M1 managers too, some of whom have as few as five direct reports, the sources said. The move is part of what some employees are calling “flattening,” in reference to Zuckerberg’s internal streamlining mandate.
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Within the company, rank changes are not yet official and have not been announced, sources said. However, some managers are being told by their bosses that they will receive more information about the “opportunity to convert” to an individual contributor or IC in the coming weeks and that their compensation will not be affected by a tier change.
Others are already preparing to be pushed out of management and work at the same level as the people they manage. And it’s also expected that another round of layoffs will affect 5 percent to 10 percent of the company, or somewhere between 3,000 and 6,000 people, in the coming weeks.
A meta spokesperson said talk of management changes and a reorganization are “still rumor and speculation,” echoing a statement previously given to Business Insider regarding broader organizational changes.
“Although we have publicly reported on flattening our organizational structure and removing some layers of middle management to become more efficient, that work is ongoing, nor has anyone’s role been impacted as part of this effort,” the spokesperson said. The level change only applies to open manager roles.
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The pressure on management, along with internal and some public comments from Zuckerberg, is just another sign for employees that more layoffs are on the horizon at Meta. The company cut 11,000 employees in November and continued to scale back spending to reassure investors frustrated by the company’s massive spending on the Metaverse amid struggles with its core advertising business.
However, when performance reviews began earlier this year and are now being completed, they were tougher than in years past. There was a policy to place more employees in lower performing categories. And certain perks and benefits have been cut as the company closes office space and moves to a desk-sharing model while employees can continue to work from home.
Zuckerberg last month declared 2023 as Meta’s “Year of Efficiency,” but new CFO Susan Li is a “huge” supporter of ongoing cost-cutting, said another person familiar with the company. Meta has been growing at a rapid pace for many years, increasing headcount by 20 percent to more than 86,000 employees last year, according to its fourth-quarter report, although that number includes most of those laid off in November.
Management incentives have long focused on the number of employees or the size of the team a leader can build. Several current and former employees have told Business Insider that Meta’s current organizational structure is “bloated,” but they also think senior management should be to blame for overstaffing. “There is now zero confidence in leadership,” said an employee.
Another employee said that with more layoffs expected and uncertainty about who will be laid off, the company now feels “incredibly toxic and everyone’s distracted,” resulting in lower productivity.
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This article was created by Klemens Handke from English translated. You can find the original here.