• Scores of Facebook contractors working through Accenture have already lost work.
  • This is just a "foreshadowing of what's to come," a person familiar with Accenture's plans said.
  • Hundreds more are expected to lose work as Facebook "ramps down" certain moderation work.

Several hundred Facebook contractors doing content moderation for the company through Accenture are expected to lose work by the end of this year, Insider has learned.

The people work for Accenture on Facebook projects out of the company's Austin office. Several of these projects are being "ramped down," two people familiar with the situation told Insider, using a company term for a reduction in the scope of Accenture's work. The projects cover legal operations, such as flagging copyright and intellectual property issues on Facebook and Instagram, along with business integrity and trust and safety, which generally fall under content moderation.

In an office with an estimated 600 Accenture workers on Facebook projects, around 400 are expected to lose work by the end of this year, a person familiar with the planned cuts said. Other sources said hundreds of people will be impacted. Already more than 65 people have lost work and another 145 are expected to be told next week they are losing work, the person familiar said. The people Insider spoke to for this story asked not to be identified in discussing sensitive topics.

"They're denying these are layoffs, but they are totally layoffs," one worker said. This person explained that Accenture refers to workers getting "benched" and being "rolled off" of projects with companies like Facebook to avoid terminology traditionally associated with employees losing their jobs. Facebook has a reported $500 million a year contract with Accenture.

Bracing for significant job cuts

Over the past few months, Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives have spoken of slowing revenue growth, commented and sent memos to staff promoting a new company culture of "increased intensity," stricter performance evaluations, and the benefits of fewer resources. This has led to full-time and well-paid Facebook employees bracing for significant job cuts.

An exact reason for the loss of work for contractors has not been shared with workers. The people familiar with the situation said Facebook is moving contract work away from Accenture to another provider of business-process outsourcing, or BPO, based in Singapore where labor is less expensive. Facebook has a major contract with TDCX, based in Singapore, which counts the platform as its biggest client, alongside Airbnb. Facebook also works with other BPO providers like VXI Global Solutions and Rose International.

An Accenture spokeswoman declined to comment, instead pointing Insider to a previous statement saying, "It is inaccurate to report there are layoff actions," and "we don't use algorithms to randomly select people." A representative of Facebook also declined to comment.

An algorithm helped decide what projects were ramped down

In video meetings this month, described by those present as "extremely scripted," Accenture HR representatives explained that "an algorithm" helped decide what projects were being "ramped down." They also said that workers who are not affected by the cuts can now work from home. Contract workers for Facebook have been pulled in and out of the office repeatedly during the pandemic, being told most recently in April that they must again work from the office. Now, they are being told working from home will be "for the long term," one worker said.

The use of an algorithm to make decisions was cited during another meeting in which 65 Facebook contractors found out they were set to lose work. Prior job cuts occurred on an individual basis in July, after Accenture workers for Facebook in Austin suddenly found themselves under more extreme performance tracking and work surveillance. Beginning in May, around the same time Facebook put in place a major hiring slowdown and partial hiring freeze, contractors who started work a few minutes late or logged three minutes of inactivity on a computer found themselves PIP-ed. A PIP, or being put on a performance improvement plan, is widely seen in tech as a precursor to losing your job. Those PIP-ed by Accenture were the first to lose work, the people said.

"This has all just been foreshadowing of what's to come," one of the people familiar with planned cuts said.

'There's no room for us'

Those affected have been told they need to formally reapply to any available roles through Accenture, but their loss of work was "no guarantee" they would be rehired. While Accenture HR said in one of the video meetings they would help place workers in new positions that may be a "match," most workers have received no help, this person said. Accenture is paying workers who are losing their current Facebook roles through October 3.

Available work is sparse anyway, one worker said, and there are essentially no roles available with Facebook, which last year changed its name to Meta. 

"There's no room for us there because they're ramping everything down," the person added.

However, should a contractor be among the few to get another position through Accenture, they feel they cannot say no, even if the pay is lower, because the company will consider that person to have effectively quit. Then the person will have a harder time receiving unemployment benefits.

"It's all just so messed up," the worker said.

Are you a Facebook employee or contractor or do you have insight to share? Contact Kali Hays at khays@insider.com, on secure messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267, or through Twitter DM at @hayskali. Reach out using a non-work device.