Mark Zuckerberg told Meta staff he’s "turning up the heat" on performance goals, Reuters reports.

Zuckerberg said he hoped this would cause some employees to leave.

This comes as the company enforces hiring freezes and cutbacks in preparation for a slowdown.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff in a Q&A meeting he’s planning on "turning up the heat" on performance goals as the company’s growth slows, according to audio of the meeting heard by Reuters.

"If I had to bet, I’d say that this might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history," told staff in the meeting, per Reuters.

Meta has already started tightening its purse strings. Insider reported in May that Facebook, a subsidiary of Meta, was pausing hiring due to "slower revenue growth than anticipated" per an internal memo.

Zuckerberg told staff the company would bring in more aggressive targets with the aim of losing employees who cannot meet them.

"Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here," Zuckerberg said, per Reuters.

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"Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is OK with me," Zuckerberg said, according to the Reuters report.

Zuckerberg also told Meta staff the company had reduced its hiring target for engineers for this year from 10,000 to 6,000 or 7,000.

Reuters reported Thursday on a memo sent by Chief Product Officer Chris Cox which said the company will have to "prioritize more ruthlessly" and "operate leaner, meaner, and better executing teams."

Meta isn’t the only large company to be bracing itself for a looming economic downturn.

Fellow tech giant Amazon said in a leaked May memo obtained by Insider that it would cut hiring targets in its retail business.

Microsoft is also slashing hiring targets according to an internal June email seen by Insider.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tesla will be cutting around 3% of its total workforce over the next three months.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.co.za/mark-zuckerberg-upping-goals-thin-out-meta-staff-2022-7