Meta’s New Reality: Record High Profits. Record Low Morale
Key takeaways
- The social media giant plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce, or nearly 8,000 people, “to run the company more efficiently” and “offset the other investments” it’s making, according to a human resources leader.
- Widening pay gaps among employees, courtroom losses for the company, and mandatory role changes for hundreds of top engineers have also contributed to what employees view as a uniquely grim atmosphere inside Meta.
- “I don’t know anyone having a good time,” says a policy staffer.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Photograph: Wally Skalij/Getty Images Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story As Meta employees brace for layoffs next Wednesday, May 20, many say the vibes are horrifically, historically low. “Everyone is unhappy; the only people who are not unhappy are, literally, executives,” says an employee who works on Instagram.
The social media giant plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce, or nearly 8,000 people, “to run the company more efficiently” and “offset the other investments” it’s making, according to a human resources leader. But the layoffs, which will add to the roughly 25,000 cuts Meta has announced over the past four years, are far from the only cause of rock-bottom morale.
Widening pay gaps among employees, courtroom losses for the company, and mandatory role changes for hundreds of top engineers have also contributed to what employees view as a uniquely grim atmosphere inside Meta. Yet another issue has been the recent installation of corporate software on employees’ computers to track their activity solely in the name of training AI, according to 16 current and former employees from a variety of roles who spoke with WIRED. They declined to be named because of company policies barring unsanctioned conversations with journalists.