The vibes are off at Meta, its top leadership said internally.
Meta chief technology officer Andrew “Boz” Bosworth said morale at the tech giant is near an all-time low as recent mass layoffs and internal AI initiatives roil many longtime employees.
Morale is “maybe not the worst it’s ever been in 20 years here, but it’s probably up there. It’s definitely up there,” Bosworth said during an internal “Tuesdays with Boz” chat on June 2, four people who were on the call told Business Insider.
“I can think Cambridge Analytica was probably the worst,” Bosworth added in reference to the scandal about millions of Facebook users’ data being used to target voters during the 2016 election.
He then added that morale is “probably one of the worst it’s ever been.”
Meta declined to comment for this story.
It’s been a difficult year for many Meta employees. Meta laid off 10% of staff in May, citing the need to offset its huge AI investments.
Meta reassigned roughly another 10% of its workforce to train its AI models. Some staff referred to joining the mandatory task force as being “drafted” and viewed the work largely as data-labeling, Business Insider previously reported.
In April, Meta also faced employee backlash over an initiative to track their mouse movements and keystrokes to improve Meta’s AI models.
Meta leadership said it has begun taking steps to improve morale. On Monday, Bosworth sent a memo to staff about how Meta needs to “be the best place for the best people to do their best work,” and that he hoped to “rekindle the best of the culture” that people joined, according to a copy obtained by Business Insider, which was first reported by Wired.
“We must provide our people the support to do things the right way for the long term, including taking smart risks when the situation calls for it and to be recognized for it,” the memo read.
Meta will commit to transparency from its leadership and its employees’ personal and career development, Bosworth’s post added.
Meta will allow people reassigned to the AI task force to reapply for other jobs within Meta if they want to, and it is increasing budgets for travel, events, and snacks, Wired reported.
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