An algorithm informed a group of roughly 60 Facebook contractors this week that they had been fired after being selected “at random” by an algorithm. The layoffs are the most recent illustration of Big Tech cutting back on spending and hiring; only recently, Apple let go of approximately 100 recruiters.
As the corporation prepares for a severe economic downturn, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly stated he will filter out failing employees with “tough performance reviews.” The contractors are employed by Accenture in their Austin office, which has a contract worth close to $500 million annually to staff the corporation with personnel skilled in corporate integrity and content moderation.
According to Business Insider, Accenture did not immediately offer the employees other jobs or transfers after the layoffs were disclosed during a video conference call on Tuesday.
For the next two weeks, the contractors were told they might “reapply” for any newly open positions, but their present employment would end on September 2 and still be paid through October 3.
In June, Zuckerberg stated that the business would be “turning up the heat” on performance management to weed out staff members unable to reach more challenging targets.
Realistically, he remarked, “a lot of individuals at the company really shouldn’t be here.” I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you and that self-selection is OK with me, so part of my hope is by raising expectations, having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, he added.
When a worker questioned how the layoffs were made, Accenture executives startlingly said that an algorithm picked people randomly and provided no explanation for why the employees’ positions were being eliminated.
It’s not the first time an algorithm has resulted in an employee losing their job. According to Game Developer, 150 people were fired by Xsolla, a company that provides payment processing for the gaming industry, in August 2021 after an algorithm found they were “unengaged and unproductive.”
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