this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024
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Gotta get creative with your layoffs when you already did massive layoffs but still need to please wall street.

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[–] TOModera@lemmy.world 83 points 1 month ago (24 children)

I don't think Meta thought this through, unless the staff already know you can be fired for small things like this. Sure, they stretched what you are supposed to spend money on, broke the rules, fine. Fuck around, find out, not something i do professionally. But it's $25. You're a 1.5$ trillion company. It comes off as petty.

If I was still working at Meta, I'd be job hunting. And maybe that's what they want. Maybe they need to downsize some more.

But eventually Meta will have the minimum amount of staff and need to grow again or necessary people will leave, and when they try to hire people they may find this article and demand more money to make up for the pettiness or they won't apply, because no one likes to be under a microscope.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 43 points 1 month ago (10 children)

And maybe that’s what they want

It's absolutely what they want. I think they're trying to cull their workforce, and cracking down on random policies in this way is intended to get people to leave w/o having to pay out severance packages.

they may find this article and demand more money

I highly doubt that. People will continue to apply to Meta because it's a prestigious job and pays remarkably well. Unfortunately, Meta will get away with this, and it's honestly disgusting to me.

[–] TOModera@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

100% agree on your first point.

I would caution your second point. A few years ago, news articles pointed out Meta had to pay people more compared to other similar companies due to people not wanting to work there. Sadly Google search isn't showing me those older articles.

A few websites are saying Meta's ~~average~~ median pay is 379k (Zuckerberg takes a $1 so he isn't driving that number) vs Google at $315k vs Microsoft $193k vs Nvidia 267k. That's a lot of difference. So running a company like a pedant has a real dollar difference, especially for workers who can demand it. Meta lost a lot of money on the Metaverse and they are spending to catch up AI, meaning they already have to be competitive for employees compared to other companies. Add in the perks are a trap to get fired, and your costs just keep going up. Perks are typically offered in lieu of higher costs and in this case incentive people to work longer in an office. Now they leave for food or go home and you have lost those benefits.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Meta had to pay people more compared to other similar companies due to people not wanting to work there

It's probably more because they were offered a position at some other prestigious firm, like Google or Netflix. Meta doesn't need to compete with you local mom-and-pop software company, they're competing with other large tech firms, so if they want "the best," they need to pay up for it.

Microsoft $193k

I think there's a lot more variety of roles in some of those companies though. Microsoft has a big hardware division (XBox, Surface, mouse/keyboard, etc), which means a lot of lower-paid support staff, logistics, etc. Meta is relatively new to that (mostly just their VR), so they probably have a lot fewer lower-paid roles. Microsoft also has a lot of campuses in lower COL areas, whereas my understanding is that Meta is almost entirely in the SF Bay area, with relatively few satellites (i.e. much higher average COL).

So just looking at average salaries doesn't tell the whole story, we'd need to look at equivalent roles. You could absolutely be right here, I'm just pointing out the metrics don't necessarily support the conclusions.

[–] TOModera@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Totally fair points. Probably next to impossible. Wish I could find those articles, but oh well. I just don't see this being good for future hiring at Meta at the end of the day.

I hope you're right, because I detest Meta and refuse to use anything they touch.

[–] Snapz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not average salary, median salary. Big difference, be careful with words, friend.

[–] TOModera@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Good catch, thanks, updated

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