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About 3,000 people are employed by Meta in Ireland, across its European HQ in Dublin, its Reality Labs team in Cork and its data centre in Meath.
Meta has today (9 November) said it is reducing the size of its global team by about 13pc – letting more than 11,000 employees go.
The company confirmed that some full-time employees in Ireland will be affected by the planned layoffs. Contract workers employed by third parties will not be impacted.
In a memo to staff, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the job cuts were part of the company’s efforts to become “a leaner and more efficient company.”
“I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted,” he said.
There are approximately 3,000 Meta employees in Ireland, across its European headquarters in Dublin, its Reality Labs team in Cork and its data centre in Meath.
When asked by SiliconRepublic.com how many Irish staff will be affected by the job cuts, Meta said it cannot confirm the final figure due to the collective consultation process in Ireland.
It added that the figure for Ireland will be based on the 13pc global cut, which means nearly 400 jobs could be at risk.
The timeline and process by which jobs will be cut will be defined by Irish Government guidelines, which will see potentially impacted employees entering collective consultation.
Meta has informed the relevant policy stakeholders – the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and IDA Ireland.
Meta hints at job cuts
Hints at jobs cuts have been coming from Meta for some time. The tech giant announced a hiring freeze in late September and said budgets would be cut across most teams.
It came after Zuckerberg revealed plans to “steadily reduce headcount growth” following Meta’s first-ever quarterly revenue decline reported in July of this year.
Meta’s profits continued to decline in its latest quarter, with metaverse costs mounting. The company’s metaverse unit has lost more than $9bn so far this year, with things unlikely to pick up in 2023.
Zuckerberg said in today’s memo that Meta is extending its hiring freeze into the next quarter, with a small number of exceptions.
“I’m going to watch our business performance, operational efficiency and other macroeconomic factors to determine whether and how much we should resume hiring at that point,” he added.
This will be the first major reduction in growth at the company, but Meta is not alone in making job cuts.
Tech layoffs are widespread
A host of other tech companies have been laying off workers in recent months, including Salesforce, Shopify, Snap, Stripe, Twitter, Patreon, Intercom, Twilio and more.
With many Irish workers affected by these job cuts, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar attempted to reassure tech professionals here that there is no sign of any companies planning to fully close their Irish operations.
Following a meeting between IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland earlier this week, Varadkar said that those who had lost their jobs as a result of these mass cuts would be assisted “as they seek alternative employment or other opportunities”.
He also said that the Government was “confident that all national employment rights requirements for consultation and notification of redundancies will be adhered to once decisions on any reductions in employment are made”.
Varadkar asked the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to intensify their engagement with tech employers over the coming weeks and months.
Meta said today that its Dublin base remains an integral part of its operations and the job cuts do not have any impact on its long-term investment plans in Ireland.
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