Tech sector jobs in Singapore are at risk, as Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has begun its latest round of worldwide layoffs. This is the third round of global Meta layoffs; while it is not clear how many jobs in Singapore might be affected, nobody is really safe.
Meta eliminated some 11,000 jobs globally in November 2022; of them, an estimated 50 were from Singapore. The company announced in March 2023 that another 10,000 jobs would be gone this year. The second round of layoffs came in April, in which an undisclosed number of Singapore employees lost their jobs, some of them fired shortly after being rewarded with promotions, according to their social media posts.
Now comes the third round of layoffs — possibly the last one — in May. It had been reported in 2018 that the Meta office in Singapore had 1,000 employees.
Given the trend of Meta layoffs and the company’s focus on Artificial Intelligence and Metaverse, it is the non-coding jobs that are most at risk. The broad swathe of the job cuts has hit non-engineering roles — from marketing to design — mainly.
Also read: Meta layoffs in Singapore: Promoted a month ago, laid off this week
The massive Meta layoffs follow a huge spike in Meta hirings during the pandemic years, when online activity had hit a new high because of the isolation. As normal life returned, revenue from e-commerce ads went down.
News of the layoffs comes through social media these days, as employees receive communication from the company and express their frustration or grief.
