Meta begins cutting 10% of its global workforce this week, with reports that the social media giant is notifying roughly 8,000 employees across multiple waves. The company also closed 6,000 open roles and moved 7,000 employees to new AI-focused teams.
Many employers are performing or announcing layoffs this year; however, there are lessons for HR teams embedded in the moves the social media giant is making during the layoff process.
Employees don’t trust silence
Rumors of mass layoffs at Meta began circulating in early 2026. For more than a month after Reuters first reported the cuts, Meta leadership stayed largely quiet. However, this approach has pitfalls. Employees in 2026 do not wait for official memos; they read industry news, talk to peers at other companies and they synthesize signals on their own. Saying nothing in that environment allows the rumor mill to fill the vacuum.
HR Executive has covered how other big tech firms handle layoff rumors. For example, when Microsoft faced unfounded layoff rumors in January, its communications lead quickly took the unusual step of calling the speculation “100% wrong.”
Patrick McCue, senior vice president of Americas at Right Management, told HR Executive that advance indicators of layoffs without specifics create their own damage. “That tension alone drives anxiety up,” he said. Employees in a holding pattern are less productive, he noted, and the rumor mill runs harder the longer clarity is withheld.
Severance options matter
Meta’s U.S. severance formula is 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks per year of service. This positions the company above some peers, including Oracle’s recently reported package of four weeks’ base pay plus one week per year of service, capped at 26 weeks.
However, Meta’s arrangement falls below Jack Dorsey’s severance package for Block’s March 2026 layoffs, which offers affected employees 20 weeks of salary plus one additional week per year of tenure. It also includes six months of healthcare, vested equity through the end of May, retention of corporate devices and a $5,000 transition stipend.
Read more: As companies use AI to justify layoffs, Josh Bersin says HR is solving the wrong problem
Internal transfers and team changes
Meta’s Chief People Officer Janelle Gale described moving employees to new AI-focused initiatives, according to Reuters. “As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles into their new org structures,” wrote Gale, as reported by Reuters. “We’re now at the stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams of pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership.”
Additionally, Meta’s restructuring reportedly eliminates some manager roles. This is a pattern HR Executive has tracked in other tech-industry layoff actions. Amazon, Block and others have framed cuts resulting in flatter teams enabled by AI.
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