Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s internal announcement Friday that he would hold a “massive” company-wide AI hackathon next month quickly sparked frustration and mistrust among employees.
In internal messages seen by WIRED, some employees wrote that their increased responsibilities following the tech giant’s recent mass layoffs left them with little time to participate in such ancillary activities. Others said they saw a decline in company-wide morale and trust in management, making them less willing to participate.
“I am literally obsessed with keeping the lights on for the team,” one employee wrote on Friday. “I don’t have the motivation to participate, much less the time.”
In a post shared with Meta’s roughly 70,000 employees, Zuckerberg explained that he set up the hackathon as a way for employees to build camaraderie amid widespread internal unrest. Ime Archibong, Meta’s vice president of product management, later shared additional details about the event, saying the event will run from July 14th to July 16th and will focus “solely on AI innovation.”
Archibong’s post drew immediate backlash from several employees, who responded with angry messages and sarcastic memes. “I’m not sure if this company supports hackathon culture anymore,” one employee wrote in a comment, which received more than 200 thumbs and hearts. “People are being asked to cover more work with less support while colleagues are being made redundant and at the same time trying to avoid the risk of triggering SEV1. [serious technical errors] With careless use of AI. ”
The same employee claimed that the hackathon effort did not count toward performance reviews, fueling employee dissatisfaction with the possibility of putting aside other projects to participate.
Dozens of people reacted to a meme inspired by a comedy movie with laughter and thumbs up. we are mirrors“Do you guys have time for a hackathon?”
“Honestly, I don’t have time to focus on this. I’m expected to be 100% committed to my regular job,” another employee wrote. “I’ve been to hackathons before, but I don’t see this as an option alongside pod sprints in my corner of the company anymore.”
A third staff member complained of what she described as an “unfortunate culture change” as she “didn’t feel safe enough to spend time on innovation at hackathons”.
Mehta declined to comment for this story.
Meta has hosted internal hackathons for years, but two sources said this is the first company-wide one since 8,000 people were laid off last month.
The Meta software engineering veteran responded to some of the employee complaints by saying everyone is encouraged to participate. But the message still wasn’t fully received. “Every organization I know has very aggressive goals, expected efficiency gains and significant headcount reductions,” an employee commented. “I have less time to focus on other axes.”
The hackathon was one of several initiatives launched by Mr. Zuckerberg on Friday to re-energize his workforce and address internal criticism over recent layoffs and other concerns. He said budgets for teams to go offsite will increase and some offices will do away with hotdesking, the concept of employees sharing desks for part of the time they’re in the office.
Last year, some employees banded together to survey co-workers about desk removal and the disruption and lost productivity it appeared to have caused, according to people familiar with the effort who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions. The group called on management to return to a system where all employees have their own space. The staff cuts have meant less time for hacking, but it appears to have created more room.
