Meta Platforms is intensifying its focus on employee performance management in 2025, dramatically expanding the share of staff classified as “Below Expectations” in mid-year reviews.

According to an internal memo viewed by Business Insider, the company is instructing managers of teams with 150 or more members to rate between 15% and 20% of their direct reports in the bottom performance bucket, up from last year’s 12% to 15%. This recalibrated distribution marks a notable shift in Meta’s approach to workforce oversight following the sweeping layoffs that cut nearly 4,000 positions earlier this year.

The internal communication, posted on Meta’s company forum on May 14, framed the mid-year review process as “an opportunity to make exit decisions,” underscoring how performance management has become a lever for ongoing cost optimization and reshaping of the company’s human capital. The memo further specified that, unlike previous cuts, there would be “no company-wide performance terminations” at this juncture. Instead, leaders are expected to “manage the performance of their reports,” implicitly signaling that managers have discretion to act on low ratings but must make individualized decisions rather than execute mass layoffs in unison. This adjustment, as Business Insider reported, comes on the heels of Meta’s previous downsizing round, which targeted employees labeled as low performers after CEO Mark Zuckerberg called for “raising the bar on performance” and set the tone for what he described as an “intense year” for the company.

Meta’s revised guidelines also expand the criteria for inclusion in the “Below Expectations” category. The new pool not only covers current employees but also those who have exited the company through what leadership terms “non-regrettable attrition” — a euphemism for departures deemed non-essential to Meta’s operations, encompassing both resignations and dismissals for underperformance. Furthermore, managers are permitted to consider individuals in this group if they have received a “Below Expectations” rating in the current performance cycle, have been formally disciplined in the preceding six months, or were subject to an Employee Relations (ER) case in the first quarter. An ER case signals that an employee has been on a managed performance improvement plan.

This more aggressive performance scrutiny builds on a trend established by Zuckerberg in early 2025. In January, after announcing the elimination of about 5% of Meta’s workforce, Zuckerberg said pointedly, “We’re moving out low performers faster,” forecasting a relentless pace for the rest of the year, as chronicled by The HR Digest. However, controversy has not abated. Former Meta staffers, speaking with Business Insider in April, sought to contest the “low performer” label, noting that some had previously received ratings such as “Meets All Expectations” before being downgraded after team transfers, medical leave, or even managerial changes. Some employees suspected that personal conflicts with managers played a deciding role in their dismissals, rather than objective underperformance.

Meta’s spokesperson defended the process to Business Insider, stating, “Let me be clear, these were performance-based terminations,” and denying any widespread retroactive downgrading of previous ratings. Nevertheless, the perception among ex-employees is that even those with strong prior reviews were not immune to layoffs, a sentiment echoed in coverage by EntryMinds, which highlights the anger and confusion felt by workers who unexpectedly lost their jobs.

As Meta continues to recalibrate its workforce amid evolving business pressures and internal performance standards, the company’s approach is viewed by many industry insiders as emblematic of a larger Silicon Valley trend: a sharpening distinction between so-called critical and non-critical staff, and a willingness to use performance management not only as a tool for development, but as a mechanism for contraction. With these expanded review protocols in place, Meta’s remaining employees now face an even more exacting bar as the company pursues operational discipline in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.