During an internal meeting reported by Business Insider, chief people officer Janelle Gale responded to employee concerns following the announcement of layoffs supposed to happen on May 20.
When asked whether more job cuts were planned, she said: “I’d love to say that there are no more layoffs, but I can’t say something we can’t deliver. While the business is strong, priorities change, competition is fierce, and we will continue to manage our costs responsibly.”
She also told staff that the company would “continue to evolve teams as needed” and look for opportunities to redeploy employees where possible. Gale pointed to ongoing investment in Meta’s Applied AI organisation, while noting that the impact of restructuring would vary across departments, without naming specific teams.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg also addressed the employees and said that artificial intelligence is not the main reason behind the layoffs. He said AI automation has helped smaller teams become more efficient, but denied it was driving job reductions on its own. He also addressed internal concerns around productivity tracking, clarifying that Meta does not have people directly monitoring employees, and that activity data, such as keystrokes and mouse movements, is processed in an abstracted form to improve AI models.
Gale acknowledged that the cuts have affected employee morale, adding that the company is trying to make the process “the best version possible.” She also highlighted that Meta has extended COBRA healthcare coverage for impacted staff to 18 months.
At the same meeting, Meta AI head Alexandr Wang presented the company’s latest model, Spark, reflecting the firm’s continued push into artificial intelligence. Meta has also committed to a major rise in spending on infrastructure this year, with plans to double investment to between $125 billion and $145 billion, much of it directed towards AI development.
Separately, Meta’s chief financial officer, Susan Li, recently said she “doesn’t really know” what the ideal workforce size should be, even as the company employs more than 77,000 people worldwide.
