Meta Employees Are Scrambling to Use Up Benefits Ahead of Layoffs

Key Points:

• Ahead of Meta's planned layoffs affecting about 10% of its 80,000 employees, many staff members are rapidly using up benefits like a $2,000 flexible spending allowance and a $200 audio gear credit, while office attendance has dropped as employees prepare for job transitions.
• The layoffs, scheduled for Wednesday with early morning notifications, come despite Meta reporting record-high profits, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasizes a need to reallocate resources toward AI data centers and believes AI can enable the company to operate with fewer employees.
• Employee morale is reportedly at an all-time low due to the layoffs, mandatory reassignment to AI teams, and new surveillance software tracking laptop use to train AI models, leading to widespread anxiety and internal organizing against these measures.
• Meta plans to restructure internally by shifting 7,000 employees to AI initiatives and converting some managers into individual contributors, potentially impacting up to 20% of the workforce either through layoffs or role changes.
• In response to the uncertain environment, employees are documenting their work records, holding social gatherings to cope, and management has advised workers not to come into offices on the day of the layoffs.