Zuckerberg Lays Off 8,000, Employees Face 28 Days of "Hell": Anxiety, Pressure, and Questions
Following Meta's announcement of approximately 8,000 layoffs scheduled for May 20th, an employee posted on the company's internal forum, calling it a "28-day hell." Meta employees flooded internal forums with similar posts filled with anxiety, dark humor, and questions while awaiting news about who would be affected.
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“Now that layoffs are confirmed, how are you motivating yourselves to continue working for the next month?” one user posted on the anonymous workplace app Blind, a section exclusively for Meta employees.
Another replied, “I’m motivating myself by doing things I can put on my resume to help me find my next job, haha.”
Layoffs Finally Announced
In a memo to employees on Thursday, Meta stated that the company was disclosing some layoff details earlier than usual due to prior leaks. Meta plans to cut approximately 10% of its workforce and eliminate 6,000 open positions.
“I know this will leave everyone in a state of uncertainty for nearly a month, which is a very unsettling feeling,” Meta Chief People Officer Janelle Gale wrote.
For some Meta employees, the acknowledgment from company leadership that layoffs would occur brought a sense of relief. An employee who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter said the announcement helped alleviate some uncertainty, as the layoffs had been widely discussed internally.
Under Gale’s internal post, a highly-liked comment was a picture of an elephant, alluding to leadership finally “addressing the elephant in the room” – a long-avoided but obvious problem. Reuters first reported in March that Meta was planning large-scale layoffs, and employees had been speculating about the extent of the cuts for weeks.
“The elephant has finally been addressed!” another employee commented. Someone else posted a picture of an envelope addressed to “The Elephant,” poking fun at the company finally openly discussing the previously avoided layoffs.
Nearly a Month of Anxiety
Some employees expressed that waiting nearly a month to find out who would be laid off was causing anxiety. One person posted that it was their first week at the company. “I might be saying goodbye already,” they wrote.
Another employee told Business Insider that the announcement actually increased pressure to perform in the coming month, as it was unclear which teams would be affected.
“I’m a little stressed about having to deliver in the next month,” they said.
Despite the increased pressure, this wasn’t the employee’s first experience with company layoffs. They said they would continue to work as usual, prepare for the worst while awaiting further news, and try to make the most of the next month.
“Regardless of what leadership says, I’m operating under the assumption that I have two months left, so I’ll just keep working,” the employee said.
Will Stock Vest?
Employees also left questions on Gale’s internal post. One asked whether Meta employees would receive stock that was set to vest on August 15th, a part of some employees’ compensation plans. Gale responded that affected employees’ departure dates would be before the August vesting date, so they would not receive it.
“The May 15th vesting date will have just passed when layoff notifications go out. Depending on location, some employees will remain until after the August 15th vesting date,” Gale wrote. Another employee thanked her for the clarification.
Another employee inquired whether travel would be restricted the week of May 20th. “We will not be implementing a company-wide travel hold. VPs will share specific arrangements for their teams,” Gale responded.
Staying May Not Be a Good Thing
On the Meta employee section of Blind, some users asked why Meta couldn’t offer voluntary severance packages. Microsoft offered a one-time early retirement buyout to thousands of long-term employees on Thursday, and Google has also offered similar arrangements in some organizations.
Many posts on the platform were users asking which teams might be affected by the layoffs.
One user wrote in a longer post that surviving the layoffs might not be a good thing.
“I’m actually more anxious about making it through this round of layoffs,” they wrote, recalling the multiple rounds of layoffs the company has experienced since 2022.
“Because we all know that things will only get worse for those of us who are left, we’ll have to take on more work, and this pathetic, fear-ridden company is only continuing to deteriorate in other ways.”