'Cried for two hours': Woman, laid off twice at Meta, shares her experience

Andrea Guzmán García-Luna, who has been laid off twice at Meta, took to LinkedIn to share her experience. "The first time was February 2018 when the Instagram Community Team was disintegrated. The second one was last week," she wrote.

The second layoff was not a surprise for Andrea Guzmán García-Luna , who was working as Partner Development Manager at Meta, which had announced in March to eliminate about 10,000 roles. And earlier this month, reports said that Meta had started to carry out the second round of layoffs as part of the March announcement. Many employees had taken to platforms such as LinkedIn to announce that they were laid off in that round. About 4,000 employees lost their jobs in the April layoffs,

"After the November layoffs and March announcement (when we were told to brace for 10k people to lose their jobs), you’d think I’d have been more prepared to face the blow when it came. Turns out I wasn’t. And it wasn’t for lack of trying. I built scenarios and budgets, put plans on hold, relied on therapy and tried to work and deliver as best as I could. But when the day came I still cried for two hours straight," she wrote.


Andrea said she wanted to share her experience on LinkedIn to highlight mental health conditions of employees who undergo a stressful experience both financially and emotionally due to layoffs.

"Truth is, my Mental Health took such a toll from this whole experience that it’s hard to focus on either. And with each passing day I realize I need a break to recover. Over the past months I’ve seen people cry on Zoom calls more than I have in my 8 year career, joined chats where people shared their fears about the possible scenarios of the layoffs and googled ‘Meta Layoffs’ frantically to get some sense of control over the situation. It’s been grueling," she wrote.

"All this to say I realized a lot of things about Mental Health in the corporate world. The constant pressure to perform and competition vs the realization that one’s financial stability can be taken away at any moment by any reason."

She also shared brighter side of her stint in Meta.

"I still see the bright things that happened during my tenure at the company which include meeting the best talent in the world. People who work at Meta are exceptional, my team and managers specifically were brilliant and held me up til the last minute. My partners were amazing people who showed their support and appreciation till the very last day. I carry them all in my heart," she wrote.

Her next move
She said that "after 8 years of nonstop work it will be interesting to have time to rest for a little while. To rebuild and gain confidence. To find new paths. I’m excited for this privilege."