Meta orders work from home first, then lays off 8,000 employees at 4 AM
New Delhi: It began with a simple instruction. Work from home (WFH) today. Employees across regions, including the US and Britain, were told not to come in. No townhalls. No floor chatter. No visible anxiety in office corridors. Then the emails started arriving. Meta Platforms kicked off layoffs that will impact about 8,000 employees, nearly 10 per cent of its workforce. The first messages were reported from its Singapore hub. A report by Bloomberg said affected employees in Singapore received emails at 4 am local time (1:30 am IST). Notifications are being sent in waves, aligned to time zones. The sequence stood out: WFH first, layoffs next.
AI Reset Behind Layoffs
Meta had about 78,000 employees before this exercise. Now, thousands are out. Thousands more are being moved. In an internal memo, Chief People Officer Janelle Gale said 7,000 employees will be reassigned into new AI-native teams. About 6,000 open roles have been shut. Managerial layers are being reduced. We’re now at the stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams of pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership,” Gale wrote. Engineering and product teams are expected to take the biggest hit. More cuts may follow later this year. At the top, Mark Zuckerberg has made AI the company’s central priority. Meta has said it plans to spend $125-$145 billion this year, largely on AI. Meta had confirmed the layoffs last month after details leaked. Inside the company, morale dipped sharply. Some employees reportedly began collecting free snacks and spare laptop chargers ahead of the formal announcement. At the same time, reports emerged that a new internal tool was tracking mouse movements and keystrokes to help train AI systems. The move sparked internal pushback. Over 1,000 employees signed a petition opposing the tracking.
The WFH order, many employees felt, ensured the layoffs happened quietly. No scenes. No gatherings. No visible unrest. However, this is bigger than Meta. The pattern is repeating across tech. Cisco Systems cut 4,000 jobs last week. Microsoft, Amazon, Disney and ASML have all announced layoffs or voluntary exits. In April, Oracle laid off an estimated 20,000-30,000 employees through early-morning emails across geographies.
