The atmosphere at Meta is bad, the company’s top leaders said internally.
Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, said morale at the tech giant is near an all-time low, with recent mass layoffs and internal AI initiatives upsetting many longtime employees.
Bosworth told Business Insider during a June 2 internal chat, “Tuesdays with Boz,” that morale “may not be the worst it’s been in 20 years, but it’s probably up there. It’s definitely up,” four people on the call told Business Insider.
“I think Cambridge Analytica was probably the worst,” Bosworth added, referring to the scandal in which millions of Facebook users’ data was used to target voters during the 2016 election.
He added that morale was “probably one of the worst ever.”
Mehta declined to comment on the matter.
This year has been difficult for many Meta employees. Meta laid off 10% of its workforce in May, citing the need to offset large AI investments.
Meta redeployed about 10% of its workforce to train AI models. Business Insider previously reported that some staff members referred to the mandatory task force participation as a “draft” and viewed the work primarily as labeling data.
Meta also faced employee backlash in April over efforts to track mouse movements and keystrokes to improve Meta’s AI models.
Meta leadership said it had begun taking steps to improve morale. Bosworth sent a memo to staff on Monday about how Meta needs to be “the best place for the best people to do the best work,” and that he wants to “rekindle the best culture” that people can be a part of, according to a copy obtained by Business Insider, which was first reported by Wired.
“We must provide our employees with the support to do things the right way over the long term, including taking and being recognized for taking smart risks when the situation calls for it,” the memo said.
Bosworth’s post added that Mehta is committed to ensuring transparency in the personal and career development of management and employees.
Meta will allow those reassigned to the AI task force to reapply for other jobs within Meta if they wish, and will increase budgets for travel, events, and refreshments, Wired reported.
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