Mark Zuckerberg laid out his latest management vision this week in his “Update on Meta’s Year of Efficiency,” a 2,200-word memo summarizing the technology giant’s renewed operating philosophy.

The memo, which announced the company will cut another 10,000 jobs and close 5,000 job postings, is a kind of bellwether for how tech companies might navigate the lower-growth, capital-constrained world they now find themselves in. But it also raises sticky questions for companies: Will the push for efficiency lead to real improvements? And, how far can companies cut without restricting innovation? 

Here are a few key mantras from the Meta CEO’s memo:

• Flatter is faster: In a sprawling organization like Meta, which employs around 86,000 people, “every layer of a hierarchy adds latency and risk aversion in information flow and decision-making,” Zuckerberg wrote. Meta will reorganize its corporate structure by “removing multiple levels of management.”

• Leaner is better: A “surprising result” of cutting staff last year is that “things have gone faster,” the Meta founder said. By “cancelling projects that are duplicative or lower priority,” Meta can simplify workflows and encourage more productivity among teams. 
• In-person time helps build relationships: Despite its prior endorsement of remote work, Meta’s internal performance data suggests engineers who started in-person with the company, or who remained working in-person, are more productive on average, Zuckerberg said. It is “still easier to build trust in person,” the update concluded, although it didn’t propose specific changes to current work policies. 

A turning point for tech? The Zuckerberg memo was lauded by some for its recognition of a cold reality. In a blog post, tech and economics writer Dror Poleg said that COVID-19 work-from-home policies not only exposed that many tech jobs can be done remotely, but that “​​many jobs were not necessary” at all. In the face of a “new economic reality,” as Zuckerberg put it in his memo, other companies might come to similar conclusions as they are forced to get leaner. 

Meanwhile, with recent artificial intelligence advancements, others argue that the technology may be poised to replace human positions amid some of the largest layoffs to hit the tech sector.

No more moonshots? Meta’s update comes as the company’s US$100-billion gamble on virtual reality has thus far failed to take hold, forcing the company to make broad organizational and structural changes. Altogether, Meta has cut about 25 per cent of its staff in recent months (other tech giants like Twitter and Amazon have also slashed personnel). 

After years of hiring sprees, Big Tech now finds itself in a delicate balance of cutting staff without sacrificing the idea generation and innovation that laid the foundation of its prior success. Investors are sure to take note of whether they can stay upright.