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Meta is set to lay off over 3,600 employees, or roughly 5% of its “lowest performers.” In an internal memo posted on the company’s Workplace forum on Tuesday, Jan. 14, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said 2025 will be an “intense year” for Meta, and he wants to “make sure we have the best people on our teams,” according to CNBC. “Meta is working on building some of the most important technologies of the world,” Zuckerberg wrote. “AI, glasses as the next computing platform and the future of social media .” He said those affected by the layoffs will be notified by Feb. 10, 2025, or later for individuals outside the United States. “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster,” Zuckerberg said. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle, with the intention of back filling these roles in 2025.” He added, “We won’t manage out...
Meta has joined the ranks of major companies that are scaling back or, in its case, terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. In a memo sent on Friday, Jan. 10, through Meta’s internal communications tool Workplace, Janelle Gale, the company’s vice president of human resources, announced updates to “our hiring, development, and procurement practices,” effective immediately, according to Axios. “The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing,” Gale wrote in the memo. “The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI. … The term ‘DEI’ has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others.” Going forward, Meta will no longer have a dedicated DEI team. Maxine Williams, the company’s standing chief diversity officer, will transition to a new...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Corporate companies have gutted and targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs throughout 2024. As we head into 2025, efforts to reverse these changes will only increase. DEI programs have been the center of several political battles since Republicans wrongfully came to attack critical race theory. Just as conservatives have a woeful misunderstanding of critical race theory and where it applies, DEI has become a buzzword associated with the aforementioned cultural wars. What Is DEI? DEI initiatives are implemented in schools, businesses, and government agencies to address inequities within historically marginalized groups. According to Erica Foldy, a professor at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, initiatives could include training, organizational policies and practices, and organizational culture. DEI isn’t just a rule or legislation created for organizations to pat...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Americans aren’t the only ones prepping for another tedious four years under President-elect Donald Trump. Since the results of the 2024 election projected Donald Trump as the winner, tech leaders from companies like Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, and others have shelled out seven-figure investments to Trump’s inaugural fund. According to CBS News, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has donated $1 million and plans to stream the inauguration on Prime. Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, will donate $1 million, along with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who delivered an optimistic statement about the President-elect’s election win. “President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead,” Altman said in a statement, per The Associated Press. Elon Musk, CEO of X, Tesla, and SpaceX, and general pop culture menace has been a lurking presence...
The merry-go-round is meant to spin a person into a euphoric experience, going into a repetitive motion until they reach peak joy. Although this concept is fun for many children, the proverbial merry-go-round of life is much less enjoyable in adulthood. The consistent pulling back of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives feels just like that: a repetitive cycle of the same thing, wondering when it will all end. The latest announcement of organizations rolling back DEI comes out of North Carolina. According to Inside Higher Ed, the University of North Carolina (UNC) state system voted to ban DEI policies and offices. Passing with a 22-2 vote, the ban calls for state institutions to cut funding and eliminate positions related to DEI across the system’s 16 campuses. In its place, the system will roll out a “equality within the university” policy that ensures balance across the system, claiming that previous policies did not align with the state system’s culture of...
According to the Associated Press, Atlanta, GA-based venture capital firm Fearless Fund “faced tough questions from conservative judges” on Wednesday, Jan. 31, as it fought for its grant program to further support Black-women-owned businesses. As AFROTECH previously told you, Fearless Fund was hit with a lawsuit by Edward Blum and his American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) group in August 2023 on the basis that the fund was carrying out “explicit racial exclusion” and violated the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
By Freada Kapor Klein, Founding Partner of Kapor Capital and Allison Scott, CEO of Kapor Foundation The Supreme Court’s decision banning affirmative action in higher education on June 29, 2023, is part of a larger series of organized attacks on momentum and progress towards racial equity, particularly in the tech industry–including the lawsuit and recent injunction against Fearless Fund, for alleging racial discrimination and temporarily halting the VC firm from awarding its grants exclusively to Black female entrepreneurs; lawsuits against Perkins Coie and Morrison Foerster for their diversity law fellowship programs; the overturning of the Small Business Association’s focus on minority businesses; 13 State Attorneys General threatening Fortune 100 companies regarding their DEI programs and initiatives; legislation in Texas and Florida banning DEI offices in higher education and restricting related courses; backlash against organizational diversity statements; and tech diversity...
The United States of America seems to be at a consistent inflection point. From media-heavy events to moments of social unrest, there appears to be a pervasive tone that seeks to divide humanity rather than unite. While some would look the other way, hoping society will self-correct itself, other organizations and companies proactively work to create environments and cultures that champion justice through diversity, equity, and inclusion. UnitedHealth Group is a part of that work, intentionally implementing programs and initiatives that support and uplift their employees regardless of some societal status quo. UnitedHealth Group (UHG) created a strategic framework for advancing diversity rooted in recruitment tools, building cultural competencies, and continued education for equity and inclusion tools. For UHG, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a business priority. This working prodigy includes vast representation across demographics, including Black/African American,...
Reaching back and pulling others forward is essential to ensuring equity in corporate spaces. And that is precisely what the Black Executive CMO Alliance (BECA) was created to do. BECA was founded by veteran Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Jerri DeVard. With decades of experience across several organizations, DeVard understands what it means to be one of the “only ones” in a space as well as the importance of having diverse perspectives at the table. Making sure the seats are filled with the right people, BECA works to amplify Black voices and create a pipeline that works to move emerging leaders into C-Suite positions.
