Following a new round of layoffs, Meta employees have taken to public forums to criticise the company's leadership for how they were chosen for the job losses. While the software giant claimed to be conducting "performance-based layoffs," numerous employees said they were fired despite having no past history of failing to fulfil the company's performance objectives, MoneyControl reports.

Speaking to the Business Insider on the condition of anonymity, an employee said, "The hardest part is Meta publicly stating they're cutting low performers, so it feels like we have the scarlet letter on our backs."

"People need to know we're not underperformers," they added.

Another employee recently laid off by Meta told Blind, an anonymous app for verified employees primarily in technology, that people with nearly a decade of experience at Meta were sacked.

"Dozens of people with pristine history and exceeds rating that took parental or medical leave got laid off. I didn’t even know this was legal. A lot of people who devoted 8-10 years to the company with multiple AE (Additional Equity) ruthlessly axed! Seems it was more about money than performance,” they wrote, calling the decision "cruel".

“Be careful about joining this company. Zuck doesn’t care about his employees. Only the company,” another employee disclosed.

A third Meta employee wrote, “Meta is now the cruelest tech company out there.”

Earlier this month, Meta revealed that it would lay off over 3,000 employees, with an emphasis on individuals with negative performance evaluations. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged this, stating the corporation intends to "raise the bar on performance" and dismiss underperformers more quickly.

The layoffs affect around 5 per cent of Meta's staff, which had 72,400 employees as of September. Zuckerberg has previously stated that 2024 and 2025 will be "challenging years" for the corporation. Meta is still working hard on AI and metaverse initiatives, but these employment losses demonstrate that even tech behemoths are feeling the pressure to remain profitable and efficient.