The atmosphere at Meta is reportedly at an all-time low as employees brace for another round of significant layoffs. Many current and former employees describe a workplace consumed by unhappiness, with one Instagram employee noting, “Everyone is unhappy; the only people who are not unhappy are, literally, executives.” These cuts are part of a broader strategy to streamline operations and fund massive investments in artificial intelligence.
Meta plans to reduce its workforce by approximately 10 percent, translating to nearly 8,000 jobs. This latest reduction adds to the staggering 25,000 cuts announced by the social media giant over the past four years. Beyond layoffs, a cocktail of issues, including widening pay gaps, recent courtroom losses, and mandatory role changes for top engineers, has created what employees describe as a uniquely grim environment.
Beyond Layoffs: A Troubled Workforce
One major source of discontent stems from the recent installation of corporate software on employees’ computers designed to track their activity for AI training purposes. Sixteen current and former employees, who spoke anonymously to WIRED, expressed deep concerns about this intrusive monitoring. A policy staffer lamented the lack of connection to Meta’s mission and the unsettling feeling of “American employees being used to train the AI models that will replace them.”
For many, the situation has become so unbearable that those who can afford it are hoping to be laid off. The severance package, including 16 weeks minimum of severance and 18 months of paid health care, offers a much-needed escape. Only employees with the most lucrative pay packages or those central to AI development appear to be thriving amidst the widespread malaise.
The frustrations have even spilled over into organized labor efforts. In the UK, Meta workers are actively registering signatures to form a union, stating, “Our leadership are escalating their cruel and short-sighted behaviours. We need to create an incentive for them to treat us with basic humanity.” United Tech & Allied Workers (UTAW), a prominent UK tech union, confirmed that Meta employees are seeking to organize to protect their jobs, benefits, and privacy, echoing similar movements at other tech giants like Google DeepMind.
Compensation Cuts and AI Investments
Money is another significant factor fueling employee dissatisfaction. For two consecutive years, Meta has reduced the stock portion of annual raises, trimming 5 percent this year on top of last year’s 10 percent cut. Public filings show that median total compensation at Meta fell from $417,400 in 2022 to $388,200 last year, although Meta disputes the overall trend, stating salaries are higher than in 2022.
These compensation cuts are particularly jarring given Meta’s robust financial performance, with nearly $27 billion in profits in the first three months of this year. Furthermore, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly offered several top AI researchers salaries as high as $100 million annually, leading one former executive to call these “insane amounts of money” compared to other employees.
The company’s total expenses surged 35 percent year-over-year to $33.4 billion in the first quarter, driven largely by its commitment to securing top AI talent and compute power. Zuckerberg recently increased the forecast for total capital expenditures by $10 billion, signaling massive ongoing investments in data centers. Meanwhile, employees feel subjected to “ruthless scrutiny and internal performance-tracking.”
Ethical Concerns and Forced Transitions
Beyond financial woes, ethical concerns have also chipped away at morale. Recent state court verdicts in California and New Mexico found Meta liable for product and policy failures, ordering nearly $380 million in damages and civil penalties. These trials served as an “uncomfortable reminder of the harm Meta services have caused” for some employees.
Adding to the turmoil, Meta recently initiated a “draft” to forcibly move at least 1,000 top engineers into a new Applied AI Engineering division. Those who refused faced the prospect of layoff, a highly unusual move in Silicon Valley where engineers typically have options during restructuring. This incident left one technical employee feeling that Meta was no longer “seeing us as partners.”
The mandatory installation of activity-tracking software, known as the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), has further inflamed tensions. This software tracks US employees’ typing and clicking to train AI models, with no opt-out option. Employees’ internal protests, citing Meta’s history of user data breaches, were reportedly “belittled and berated” by CTO Andrew Bosworth, with one veteran employee stating, “The social contract is completely shattered at this point.”
The AI Frontier: A Double-Edged Sword
While many employees are disillusioned, some pockets of Meta remain excited about the company’s aggressive AI push. Teams like TBD Lab, focused on frontier AI models, have been insulated from the broader chaos. A senior leader described Meta’s current phase as “the opportunity of a lifetime” for employees to learn and access cutting-edge AI models, surrounded by expertise.
This leader acknowledged that Meta is making a monumental bet, not playing it safe, which will inevitably lead to difficult transitions. “There are going to be entire sections of the company where automation is better than the humans, and that’s going to be really hard and sad, and those people are going to lose jobs, and [Zuckerberg] isn’t sugarcoating that.” While Zuckerberg insists AI will amplify human abilities, he also noted that projects once taking months and dozens of workers now require just one or two and can be finished in a week. This rapid acceleration underscores the dramatic shift occurring within Meta.
Source: Wired – AI
