Meta recently terminated a contract with prison staff at Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters, leading to hundreds of job cuts in the coming weeks.
The company informed facility management provider ABM Industries of its plans to cancel the contract in mid-June, which will go into effect on July 25.
An ABM human resources executive wrote a letter dated July 1 to the department stating that the decision will affect 368 ABM employees at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park, California, including kitchen cleaners, night cleaners, recycling sorters, cafe support, and ten supervisors and seven administrators.
“While the subsequent custodial vendor Meta has hired to perform these services may retain some or all of the ABM employees at this account, ABM has no independent knowledge of that vendor’s hiring plans,” the letter wrote.
The decision to fire the staff stems from the slowdown in Facebook’s online advertising activity due to several factors, including rising inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Apple’s iOS privacy changes. Last May, Meta revealed it would slow the pace of hiring after forecasting a possible year-over-year revenue decline in the second quarter. However, the letter contained no reason for terminating the contract.
A Facebook representative revealed that the company plans to replace the supplier with another company but did not specify how many employees will be part of the contract.
ABM is a publicly traded company and employs more than 100,000 people. During its December earnings call, the company counted Facebook, Google and Adobe as customers. It also said the companies were among those expanding their presence in the office.
The Facilities
Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, things have become much quieter at Facebook facilities. However, as the company planned a return to the office, employees had the option of applying for permanent remote work.
In May 2021, the company reopened its Bay Area offices to some employees.
Last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta would cut plans to hire engineers by 30% this year. In addition, reports began circulating on Monday that Meta’s chief technical officer had urged employees to identify and report “underperformers,” saying they were slowing the company’s performance.
