Mark Zuckerberg gathered his top executives at their annual Hawaii retreat in January 2026 with a bold pitch: turn Meta into an “AI-native” company by automating the daily tasks of thousands of employees and shrinking teams to lean squads managing virtual workers. The internal codename was Project OT, short for Organization Transformation.
The original plan called for reducing team sizes by up to 60% across various departments, split into two waves. The first round of cuts was scheduled for May, with a second wave following in November.
The plan versus what actually happened
Employees pushed back, hard. Concerns about productivity disruptions and job security created enough internal friction that Meta’s leadership scaled back significantly. On or around May 20, 2026, the company executed a 10% workforce reduction, a fraction of what Project OT originally envisioned.
The November wave never happened at all. Meta halted the planned second round of cuts at the last minute, bowing to sustained employee resistance. Zuckerberg eventually addressed the unrest directly, telling employees there would be no further mass layoffs in 2026.
