Worried about the future of Meta in a difficult economic context, Mark Zuckerberg spoke to the employees of his company. The creator of Facebook intends to be firm.
Are we heading towards a global economic crisis? One after another, big tech companies seem to be preparing for this scenario. All publish disappointing results and indicate to expect worse in a context of war in Ukraine, Covid-19 still present, shortage of components and rising prices all over the world. The “GAFAM”, which broke records during the pandemic, seem less confident than before and intend to reduce their hiring while waiting to be able to measure the reality of the situation, while tightening the screw on certain points such as teleworking.
At Meta too, we expect to experience difficult months. In a long and very well documented article, The Verge recounts the question and answer session organized by Mark Zuckerberg on June 30. The boss of Facebook, who no longer lends himself to this exercise for several months, is very pessimistic.
A disturbing call for resignations
“Realistically, there’s probably a bunch of people in the business who shouldn’t be here”. This little sentence, uttered by Mark Zuckerberg to explain that his company must prepare for a complicated period, was not appreciated by Meta employees. “I think some of you might say this place is not for you. And this self-selection suits me” adds the creator of the company, who probably hopes that employees will leave on their own so as not to have to lay off.
“I think some of you might say this place is not for you. And this self-selection suits me”
mark zuckerberg
This sentence reflects the overall mood at Meta where the majority of employees are no longer convinced that the company will have a bright future, while the rise of TikTok and the damage caused by Apple’s anti-tracking policy have still an impact today. Meta suddenly lost billions of dollars and its plans to revive itself, like the Metaverse, probably won’t pay off until the end of the decade (if they ever pay off). The group has just increased the price of its most popular virtual reality headset, the Quest 2, when it had previously hoped to make VR accessible.
On Workplace, the Facebook reserved for Meta employees, Mark Zuckerberg’s speech aroused strong reactions: “I don’t see the people around me slacking off or anything” confesses an employee. “Honestly, hearing ‘some of you don’t belong here’ from a leader instead of ‘Here are the challenges, let’s come together and overcome them’ is disheartening and maybe not not the best way to get this message across”. The authority of Mark Zuckerberg, who has also canceled certain leaves and is less open to teleworking, is disputed. Some are also worried about Meta’s new policy, which hires fewer interns than before, at the risk of letting young talent go to the competition.
Meta Challenges
Even so, 77% of Meta employees would continue to recommend the company as a place to work, proof that all is not 100% negative. Employees are still worried about the new work culture wanted by Zuckerberg who, once a telework activist, now denounces employees who would make personal appointments in the middle of the day and no longer work efficiently. The period of economic instability worries Meta which, in the best of cases, expects an upturn in a year.
In the coming months, Meta should also experience a major overhaul in its management. Mark Zuckerberg will stay, but his right arms will change. Sheryl Sandberg is leaving after 14 years in the number 2 chair. Meta, for its part, will continue to bet everything on a metaverse that it imagines as the successor to the modern Internet.