The oarent company of Facebook, Thread, WhatsApp and Instagram, Meta, is set to implement another round of layoffs across its operations in Africa, Europe, and Asia starting Monday next week.

The company informed its staff of the plans in an internal memo seen by Reuters on Friday.

Notices will go out to employees losing their jobs starting at 5am local time Monday in most countries, including in the United States, according to one of the posts, authored by Meta’s Head of People, Janelle Gale.

However, employees in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands will be exempted from the cuts “due to local regulations,” while those in more than a dozen other countries across Europe, Asia and Africa will receive their notifications between February 11 and February 18, it said.

LEADERSHIP recalls that Meta confirmed last month that it was planning to trim about 5% of its “lowest performers” and backfill at least some of the positions.

The Friday memo, in which Gale referred to the cuts as “performance terminations,” was first reported by The Information, unlike previous company-wide layoffs, Meta was planning to keep its offices open on Monday and would not issue any updates providing further details on the decisions, Gale said in her post.

A separate memo, posted by VP of Engineering for Monetization Peng Fan on Friday, asked staffers to assist with an expedited hiring process for machine learning engineers and other “business critical” engineering roles.

That process would take place between February 11 and March 13, Fan said in that post.

“Thank you for your continued support in helping us achieve our accelerated hiring goals, and better align with our company’s priorities for 2025,” he stated.

The parent company of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, Meta is set to cut about 5 percent of its workforce, targeting the company’s lowest-performing staffers.

Meta’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mark Zuckerberg, informed employees about the decision to “move out low performers faster” in a memo posted on Tuesday on the company’s internal Workplace forum.

“Meta is working on building some of the most important technologies in the world. AI, glasses as the next computing platform, and the future of social media. This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams,” Zuckerberg wrote.

Zuckerberg told employees that 2025 would “be an intense year.”

Zuckerberg emphasised that the company plans to “raise the bar on performance management” and accelerate the process of moving out low performers.

He stated that, while the company typically manages underperforming employees over the course of a year, this time they would be making more extensive, performance-based cuts during this cycle.

“We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle, with the intention of backfilling these roles in 2025,” Zuckerberg said.

The company specified that it is “exiting approximately 5% of our lowest performers” in a separate message posted by a company director.

Meta has more than 72,000 employees, according to its most recent quarterly report.

Meta said employees affected by the layoffs will be notified by February 10 and receive severance in line with what the company has provided previously.

The cuts represent Meta’s largest layoffs since it eliminated 21,000 jobs, or nearly a quarter of its workforce, in 2022 and 2023.

The company has yet to provide specifics on how many employees will be impacted, but this reduction will be a substantial one, affecting thousands of workers across various departments.

Zuckerberg reassured employees that those who are let go will receive generous severance packages.

“We won’t manage out everyone who didn’t meet expectations for the last period if we’re optimistic about their future performance, and for those we do let go, we’ll provide generous severance in line with what we provided with previous cuts,” he stated.

The Foundation for Peace Professionals (PeacePro) has called on the members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to lay down their arms and surrender to the federal government.

The group also urged IPOB promoters to repeat the historic Biafra surrender to the federal government on January 13, 1970, which marked the end of the Nigeria’s civil war.

PeacePro, in a statement commemorating the 53rd anniversary of the Biafra’s surrender, emphasised the importance of respecting the peace agreement that prioritised reconciliation and national unity.

 

The statement signed by the Executive Director of PeacePro, Mr Abdulrazaq Hamsat was made available to LEADERSHIP in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Wednesday.

 

The group noted that IPOB’s armed struggle and violent approach contradict the peaceful resolution embraced by Biafran leaders five decades ago.

 

PeacePro reminded IPOB that the declaration of “No Victor, No Vanquished” by the federal government laid the foundation for rebuilding and reintegration, urging the group to choose dialogue over conflict.

 

“The continued pursuit of violence by IPOB dishonours the memory of those who chose peace to stop further bloodshed in the South East during the Biafra war,” it stated.

 

PeacePro also criticised the call for the unconditional release of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu without a commitment to peace, describing it as a misguided approach that cannot achieve lasting stability or development.

 

“True peace and progress require acknowledgment of mistakes and a change in approach. IPOB’s violent activities have resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives and devastated the economy of the South-East,” the group noted.

 

It called on IPOB to recognise that sustainable peace is built on non-violent advocacy and peaceful negotiation, aligning with democratic principles and respect for human life.