Meta platform cut plans to hire engineers by at least 30% this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees this Thursday. He also warned them to brace for a deep economic downturn.  Mr Zuckerberg told workers in a weekly employee Q&A session, “If I had to bet, I’d say that this might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history,” the audio was heard by Reuters.

Meta first aimed to hire around 10,000 new engineers, in its initial plan, however, it has now reduced its target for hiring engineers in 2022 to around 6,000-7,000. Meta confirmed hiring pauses in broad terms last month, but exact figures were not previously reported. He also said the company was leaving certain positions unfilled in response to attrition and “turning up the heat” on performance management to weed out staffers unable to meet more aggressive goals.

“Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Mr Zuckerberg said. “Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is OK with me,” he said.

A memo which appeared prior to the company’s internal discussion, written by Chief Product Officer Chris Cox said, The company must "prioritize more ruthlessly" and "operate leaner, meaner, better-executing teams," "I have to underscore that we are in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce. We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets," Cox wrote.

Additionally, a spokesperson in its statement said, " (The memo was) intended to build on what we've already said publicly in earnings about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have, where we're putting more of our energy toward addressing," 

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