New Delhi, 20 May

Meta employees across the US and Britain were told to work from home shortly before the company began laying off about 8,000 workers — nearly 10 per cent of its workforce — with instruction emails hitting inboxes at around 4am. The first messages were reported from its Singapore hub, according to Bloomberg.

In an internal memo, Chief People Officer Janelle Gale said 7,000 employees would be reassigned to new AI-native teams, while about 6,000 open roles have been closed and managerial layers reduced. Meta had about 78,000 employees before the restructuring; thousands are now out, with thousands more being reassigned.

Engineering and product teams are expected to take the biggest hit, with more cuts possible later this year. Zuckerberg has made AIthe company's central priority; Meta has said it plans to spend between USD 125 billion and USD 145 billion this year, largely on AI, to build smaller, leaner teams focused on the technology.

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 pattern is repeating across the sector. 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. Dipal Dutta, CEO at RedoQ, told NDTV that this move is not a temporary phase.

The volatility sweeping tech is not a temporary correction but a permanent shift: enterprise productivity is no longer tied to headcount. Generative AI and autonomous workflows have commoditised routine engineering, customer operations, and data management, collapsing the old tech model of scaling people to drive growth.