Former Meta and Amazon senior manager Stefan Mai has lifted the lid on a troubling reality of Silicon Valley’s performance culture: rigid low-performer quotas.
Speaking on The Peterman Pod, Mai warned that these quotas often corner managers into humiliating contradictions.
“Low-performer quotas can lead to some egg-on-the-face moments—especially when you’ve been telling your team they’re all stars, and then you’re forced to call someone a laggard,” he said.
Meta’s Tougher Playbook
Meta recently raised its quota thresholds, pushing managers to tag 15–20% of employees as underperformers, up from 12–15%. The move is widely seen as a cost-control strategy, freeing resources as the company doubles down on AI and cost-efficiency.
The Human Toll
The fallout has been brutal. In early 2025, about 4,000 employees—roughly 5% of Meta’s global workforce—were cut, many of whom had glowing reviews just months earlier. For some, the “low performer” label not only cost them their jobs but also cast a long shadow on future career prospects.
Culture on the Line
Critics say quota-driven reviews erode trust and damage innovation. Fear-driven competition replaces collaboration, undermining the very qualities that fuel progress in tech. On Reddit, employees have vented about abrupt negative ratings, with no warnings or feedback before layoffs—leaving morale in tatters.
Bottom Line
What began as a managerial tool to trim the bottom tier now looks like a system that punishes trust, wrecks culture, and risks turning performance reviews into credibility landmines.
