The goal is to always be bringing in new talent and cutting lowest performers to increase productivity. They want the new talent and don’t care about the low performers at a personal level.

Metas philosophy (based on what an ex Meta person told me) is “up or out”

So if you aren’t getting a promotion, you are eventually getting fired. This meat grinder probably has some perverse incentives for employees and makes sure you are always churning through folk who you don’t need to pay QoL raises to

I'm confused. The article specifically states that Meta cut 25% of its workforce since 2022 (that's not counting the 5% that are being reported). What overhiring?

The goal is to replace that 5% with new hires, resulting in higher average performance. It has nothing to do with total hiring amount.

Fear. Effects on stock price during when talent is a hot commodity.

Besides, all those Associate Directors of Nonengineering Engineers of Developer Conference Swag Acquisition need to eat too.