Meta implements major layoffs: Severance details revealed

Today marks a significant day that Meta employees have been anxiously awaiting for weeks.

Messages are being dispatched to about 10% of Meta's 78,000-strong staff, letting them know of their layoff status. Notifications are being staggered in three waves beginning at 4am local time on May 20 across various locations, as noted in a communication from Meta's HR head Janelle Gale to an employee support group on Monday.

The workforce reductions aim to cut approximately 8,000 positions.

American staff will receive a severance package that includes 16 weeks—or four months—of base pay, in addition to two weeks for every year of continued service, according to an internal memo reviewed by Business Insider.

Moreover, they will be entitled to 18 months of medical insurance coverage for both themselves and their families—triple the previous provision—as previously covered by Business Insider.

Affected personnel outside the US will obtain similar packages, which vary by region.

Recently, fintech firm Block offered recently dismissed staff 20 weeks of salary plus an extra week per year of service, along with six months of healthcare. Amazon provided its employees three months of full salary and health benefits, in addition to an extra severance package.

In the Monday note, HR leader Gale noted that managerial roles would be reduced across the organisation to support more streamlined structures.

"We have now reached a point where numerous units can function with a leaner setup, comprising smaller groups that can advance more swiftly and with increased accountability," she stated.

During an internal briefing last month, Meta's HR head Janelle Gale mentioned that morale had suffered due to the impending redundancies, and that the tech company was striving to handle a "difficult" scenario as positively as feasible, further stating that COBRA benefits were tripled.

Since Meta revealed the upcoming job cuts on April 23, workers have been functioning under uncertainty, uncertain about their future with the company. Meta remarked at that time in a private memo that these job cuts were intended to enhance the company’s "operational efficiencies" and balance out investments.

Meta also intends to allocate over 7,000 employees to engage with freshly emerging AI-related projects.

Gale indicated that leaders across the company are set to disclose structural changes in conjunction with the layoffs.

Meta is committing vast sums in its pursuit of AI advancement and projected its 2026 capital spending to fall between $125 billion and $145 billion in April.

Meta's management informed staff that they are keeping open the option for further personnel reductions beyond this week's 10% round, Business Insider previously reported.