'You've Shattered The Morale,' Meta Employee Demands Answers From Zuckerberg, Questions Reasons To Stay, CEO Responds

Technology and social media company Meta Platforms META has made headlines for layoff announcements and rumors over the last year. The company recently held a town hall to share updates and answer direct questions from employees.

What Happened: During a town hall on Thursday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared details on the future of layoffs at the company. The meeting was held the day after Meta Platforms completed another round of job cuts.

Among the recent layoffs by Meta Platforms were around 4,000 employees, with most coming from the company’s tech divisions.

As part of its third-quarter financial results, the company said it was working on cost reductions, including reducing employees in some areas of the company.

Another round of layoffs could come in May 2023. Details on layoffs for 2024 and 2025 are not known and have some Meta employees wondering what’s next for the company and its staff.

Related Link: Meta Platforms Q4 Earnings: Shares Soar On Revenue Beat, Updated Guidance 

Employees Concerned: During the town hall, Zuckerberg said he couldn’t rule out future layoffs, which prompted several questions, as shared by the Wall Street Journal.

“I generally feel good about the position here, but just given the volatility, I don’t want to kind of promise that there won’t be future things in the future,” Zuckerberg said.

One question directed to Zuckerberg was pretty confrontational in the face of job cuts and a change of direction focused on the metaverse at Meta Platforms.

“You’ve shattered the morale and confidence in leadership of many high performers who work with intensity. Why should we stay at Meta?” the employee asked.

Zuckerberg told employees he hopes they are with the company because they believe in the future vision.

“There’s no other company in the world that delivers social experiences at the scale that we are and that does so across such a diversity of different products and use cases. So if you want to reach people in the billions and have a massive impact, I think this is a great place to be,” Zuckerberg said.

One of the questions was related to bonuses for Meta executives, which comes on the heels of another company going viral for its CEO addressing bonuses.

“Why did the entire executive team get EE/GE ratings when they are also directly responsible for the choices that led to us needing to lay off 20+% of the company? Where is the accountability?” the employee asked.

Zuckerberg told the employee he was happy with the performance of the executives in their new and expanded roles that have changed due to job cuts.

The comments from employees come in the wake of a 2010 email from Zuckerberg to employees about leaking information to the press. Zuckerberg told the employee to resign immediately and asked the staff for confidentiality moving forward.

After the latest town hall and comments from Zuckerberg, investors will likely closely monitor if the company executes additional rounds of job cuts moving forward.

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