The news of Facebook-parent Meta's second round of mass layoffs has sent shockwaves across the tech industry. However, what caught the attention of many people was the personal story shared by one of the employees who lost her job.
Sara Schneider, who was part of the Talent Acquisition and recruiting team, revealed that her maternity leave was cut short due to the layoffs, after spending three years at the company.
In a LinkedIn post, she expressed her gratitude for the amazing memories and experiences she had while working with the best teams and incredible people.
She also emphasized that her layoff was not performance-based and mentioned how she went through major life milestones during her time at the company, including moving three times, finding the love of her life, getting married, getting pregnant, and having her first baby. During her birth process, she suffered from a postpartum haemorrhage, which was almost fatal. She lost over five litres of blood and suffered from massive blood clots, with her blood pressure dropping to the 50s. However, despite the traumatic experience, she is grateful to be alive and is determined to push through the tough times for her son.
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On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg informed Meta staff that the majority of the new job cuts would be announced in the next two months, but some may extend until the end of the year.
"For most of our history, we saw rapid revenue growth year after year and had the resources to invest in many new products. But last year was a humbling wake-up call. I think we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that this new economic reality will continue for many years," Zuckerberg wrote.
The company plans to cut 10,000 jobs this year, as part of a restructuring that will see it abandon hiring plans for 5,000 openings, and scrap lower-priority projects. Meta will also "flatten" layers of middle management, and eliminate non-engineering roles, automating more functions.
This news comes after the company's first mass layoff in the fall, which eliminated over 11,000 jobs or 13 per cent of its workforce at the time. The company's aggressive hiring spree, which doubled its employee count as of 2020, led to the first round of layoffs.
(With inputs from Agency)
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