Mark Zuckerberg’s Meeting With Angry Staff After New Layoffs

• The Meta CEO hosted a call last week with angry employees who survived another mass layoff.
• He was grilled on pay for execs who received huge bonuses amid relatively poor business performance.
• Zuckerberg’s answers were “shallow” and “patronizing,” employees said.

Mark Zuckerberg last week took questions from angry employees who asked why executives at Meta seem to face no meaningful consequences for the decisions they’ve made which have led to thousands of layoffs, and counting.

Zuckerberg, who is on parental leave for the birth of his third child since last month, hosted the call for employees who survived yet another round of layoffs enacted on Wednesday, focused on Meta’s tech and engineering teams. He confirmed that the company, formerly known as Facebook, cut 4,000 employees in April, according to two people familiar with the call, in addition to the 11,000 workers let go in November. He admitted that the lastest cuts deeply impacted management, as expected and previously noted by workers, with about 20% of managers being let go or being forced into non-management roles.

As is typical for these Q&A style calls, which occur weekly with staff and have been hosted by other executives for the last few weeks, Zuckerberg responded to pre-submitted questions that were the most upvoted by staff, some details of which have been reported by Vox and The Wall Street Journal. 

Most of the questions revolved around “why” layoffs were happening again, and Zuckerberg took responsibility several times, saying it “rests solely” with him, according to the people familiar. However, he still pointed to an unexpected “macroeconomy” and “unprecedented volatility,” noting rising interest rates and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in attempting to explain the position his company is now in. He did not deny that more layoffs could happen in the future, the people said, even after already announced cuts to business divisions expected in May.

“We’re in a different world now,” he said on the call, according to the people familiar.

One of the most upvoted questions by staff, according to the people, was why senior leadership received bonuses last year at a level of “exceeds expectations,” while the company not only saw a historic stock drop, and enacted layoffs, but bonus stock grants for most rank and file employees was lowered and their performance was judged more harshly than ever. A number of perks and benefits have also been cut over the last year, as Meta looked to cut costs.

A company spokesperson declined to comment.

Zuckerberg explained on the call that several in the C-suite, namely Susan Li who became CFO after more than a decade with the company, “received good ratings because they stepped into new roles that they haven’t held before and that they’ve taken on expanded scopes,” a person present for the call said. Zuckerberg also argued that Meta’s performance overall negatively impacted the executives, meaning a reduction to their bonus was “baked in.”

The answer struck several employees as “shallow” and “very patronizing,” the person present for the call said.

“Employees change roles all of the time with expanded scope and they don’t automatically exceed expectations,” the person added. “We are supposed to be outcome-focused.”

Last year, Meta’s stock fell to its lowest level since 2015, after months of shrinking revenue growth as it struggled to recover from changes to its advertising business, and spending nearly $14 billion on the metaverse, which spooked investors. 

According to Meta’s proxy statement for 2022, each member of the C-suite received a bonus based on an individual performance multiplier. While an 85% multiplier would have shown they met expectations, all of the executives received a multiplier of either 125% or 165%, showing they are considered to have far exceeded what was expected of them. 

CFO Susan Li received a bonus of $575,613; CPO Christoper Cox received a bonus of $940,214 – the biggest bonus of all the executives; COO Javier Olivan received a bonus of $786,552; CTO Andrew Bosworth received a bonus of $714,588; and David Whener, who took on a newly created role of Chief Strategy Officer, received a bonus of $712,284. Sheryl Sandberg, who officially left her role as COO in September, received a bonus of $298,385.

“It’s easy to say you are taking full responsibility,” an employee told Insider, “when there are no financial repercussions to you or your team by doing so.”

Are you a Meta employee or someone else with insight to share? Contact Kali Hays at [email protected], on secure messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267, or through Twitter DM at @hayskali. Reach out using a non-work device.