Facebook-parent Meta takes back full-time job offers amid rising fear of recession

New Delhi: As layoffs deepen in New Year, Meta (formerly Facebook) has reportedly rescinded full-time employment offers to some people, which is a first for the company as it never took back job offers in its history.

According to tech writer Gergely Orosz, Meta has rescinded job offers in London, "as I confirmed with developers impacted. New grads with offers due to start in February have been taken back in bulk. I know of about 20 people so far".

"This is the first time I’m aware that Meta is taking back signed, FTE (full-time employment) offers," Orosz said in a tweet. Meta's position until now was that FTE offers are "NOT at risk, up to even a week ago".

In October this year, recruiters made it clear to candidates worried about their Meta offers that these are safe, according to Orosz. The worst lay-off in the global tech industry by Meta, that saw 11,000 employees being shown the door, has hit India teams too, albeit marginally, reliable sources said on Wednesday.

In one of the worst lay-offs ever in the tech industry that saw 11,000 employees being shown the door, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in November last year fired about 13 per cent of the global workforce and extended hiring freeze through Q1 2023. Zuckerberg said that as a severance measure, the company will pay 16 weeks of base pay, along with two additional weeks for every year of service, "with no cap".

"Outside the US, support will be similar, and we`ll follow up soon with separate processes that take into account local employment laws," he had said. Triggered by Twitter, several tech companies like Amazon and Salesforce have laid off thousands of employees amid global economic recession fears in 2023.

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