Misery at Meta As Employees Reportedly 'Sit Around Doing Nothing' So far Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "year of efficiency" has led to demoralized staffers, according to reports.
By Dan Bova
It's misery at Meta.
According to the New York Post, cost-cutting measures and mass layoffs have left employees feeling unliked and demotivated.
A Financial Times report reveals that the malaise is being felt by workers in the trenches all the way up to senior management. What was promised to be a "year of efficiency" by CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been a year of employees sitting on their hands.
Project budget approvals have been delayed, leading to a halt in work, according to FT. The outlet quoted insiders who say "zero work" is getting done, including its vital metaverse and advertising initiatives.
"Honestly, it's still a mess," one Meta employee said. "The year of efficiency is kicking off with a bunch of people getting paid to do nothing."
Related: Meta Stock Jumps 1 Percent After False Report
Last year, Meta's stock fell by 72% as its metaverse push landed with a virtual thud, losing an estimated $700 billion. After laying off around 11,000 employees, Zuckerberg admitted to staffers that Meta over-invested after the pandemic led to a temporary surge in online activity and told employees, "I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that."
Zuck and the Meta gang are not alone. Google, Amazon, Twitter, and Microsoft are among the other tech giants forced to lay off thousands in 2022.
Related: 23 Weird Things You Didn't Know About Mark Zuckerberg
On an earnings call last week, Zuckerberg said he would restructure the company to find efficiencies. "We're working on flattening our org structure and removing some layers of middle management to make decisions faster, as well as deploying AI tools to help our engineers be more productive," Zuckerberg said, adding that he will be quick to shut down projects that are not performing or no longer seen as crucial.
That oughta boost morale.
