Employees reveal secrets inside Mark Zuckerberg’s empire: Meta is a mess, lots of people are getting paid for doing nothing

The “effective year” that Mark Zuckerberg aspires to is starting with a lot of people getting paid for doing nothing.

The Financial Times reports that Meta has delayed finalizing the budgets of several working groups while also preparing for a new round of job cuts. These are all the results of the process of implementing a cost-control plan in the “effective year” highlighted by CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the recent business results meeting.

Two Meta employees revealed to the Financial Times that there has been a lack of clarity on budgets or future headcount in recent weeks. As a result, employees complained that “nothing” got done because managers could not plan their upcoming workload.

In the past, projects and decisions that used to take a few days for approval now take about a month. Even these people said that in some cases, delays occurred even in priority areas including the metaverse (virtual universe) and advertising.

Some budgets are usually completed by the end of the year, one of the employees added.

“Honestly, the situation right now is a mess,” said one employee. “The effective year is starting with a lot of people getting paid doing nothing.”

The news comes as Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is planning to make further job cuts after laying off 11,000 employees – about 13% of its total staff – in November. Three employees said employees were greatly demoralized by the cuts and future uncertainty.

Meanwhile, CEO Zuckerberg announced earlier this month that the social media company will continue to control its costs under its new mantra of the “effective year.” Meta’s improved outlook for fourth-quarter results sent the stock up 18 percent, boosting its market cap by $88 billion.

Over the past year, Big Tech stocks, especially those of companies that rely heavily on advertising, have sold off sharply amid difficult macroeconomic conditions and tight marketers. their budget. This has led to job cuts across the industry, as tech bosses admit they’ve been hiring too much during the digital boom of the pandemic.

Wall Street investors last year expressed frustration with Meta’s financials, including a $10 billion annual investment in the metaverse and a bloated headcount, as the economic downturn kicked in. start eating away at their profits.

Three current and former employees said that despite the November staffing cuts, the most severe in history, Meta expects further cuts around March, as the company currently conducting an employee performance review.

During an earnings call with analysts last week, CEO Zuckerberg said: “Next, we’re working on flattening our organizational structure and removing some layers of middle management. to make decisions faster.” He also said the company would be “more proactive” in cutting low-performing or low-priority projects.

Accordingly, Meta requires many managers and directors to switch to more personal jobs or accept being fired as a way to help this corporation operate effectively. This is said to be a move that makes senior managers share power with subordinates and focus on more specialized tasks such as research, design, writing code, etc. Those who do not accept this request will have to leave. company.

Source: Financial Times