An employee who claims to be from Meta has vented their frustration online over hiring new candidates following recent layoffs at the tech giant, saying the replacements don’t match the calibre of those who were let go.
‘Watched people cry in layoffs’
The post was highlighted by workplace community app Blind on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption: “Tech is wild: layoffs today, ‘we can’t find talent’ tomorrow.”
In the anonymous post, which is slowly gaining traction online, the employee vented their frustration. They said, “I watched people cry in layoffs… Now I am hiring worse replacements.”
In a sarcasm-dipped post on Blind, they expressed that they are ending the year on a “great” note.
“Meta has honestly messed me up from their hiring cycle. The people we let go last year and earlier this year were straight up better than most of the candidates I’m talking to now,” they wrote on the platform.
‘Hiring replacements who can’t…’
The employee, who posted anonymously, added that many candidates they have been interviewing are unable to answer foundational questions.
“…They can’t explain, rambling answers, and obvious Al writing,” the person further said, before adding, “Now I’m supposed to hire replacements who can’t even do what those same people did.”
The employee also revealed they were the one who had to inform affected staff during the layoffs.
“What really gets to me is I’m the one who had to tell people they were being let go. I watched grown adults cry. I watched people panic about visas, mortgages, and kids. If you’ve been in my position and you say that it’s just a job, I’m just not built that way. That stuff stays with you,” the ‘Meta’ employee expressed.
They added that it “broke something” inside them. “Leadership and companies, maybe even shareholders, think it’s just numbers, but they never have to see the faces. I did. And it kind of broke something in me.”
The employee admitted feeling “jaded” and blamed the company culture for making them feel like the “bad guy”.
“I feel like the bad guy. I feel like Meta has made me into a bad guy. And I honestly don’t know what we’re doing as a company anymore.”
How did the Internet react to this post?
The post piqued many people’s interest, who, as expected, flocked to the comments section of the post and shared their thoughts.
On X, one person wrote, “Same at Stripe, they were people who went out of their way on a Friday evening to help a user. They were people who logged in on Sunday night after a long weekend to get ahead of emails/issues before the week began. I can’t believe that these were the people they let go…their calibre and ethics were unmatched.”
Another added, “Personal anecdote. Worked on an R&D project that was shut down as ‘non-viable’ and caused layoffs. 4 months later, Amazon and Google announced they were pursuing it, and execs did a 180. With all the talent gone, Co had to buy another company to try to catch back up.”
“Should re-hire the capable with 20% of the offered wage as a hiring bonus for screwing up,” a third suggested.
A fourth commented, “Companies do this all the time. They need the work done, but they also want a huge immediate cost savings. So, they fire a big group of people who were making $120K to $300K and then rehire for those same positions and only pay from $30K to $90K for the new hires.”
On Blind, where the post was originally shared, on user posted, “Layoffs are a short-term solution to a long-term problem.”
“I like when they tell us ‘we are all family’, ‘come to the office, so we can all be together’. Like y’all tripping. This is a transactional relationship. Not spending a second more than I need to,” commented another.
Meta layoffs
In October this year, a Meta spokesperson said that the company will trim its artificial intelligence workforce, CNBC reported. The news of the layoffs was announced by the Chief AI Officer of Meta, Alexandr Wang. These layoffs, however, didn’t impact employees within TBD Labs, who were hired by Meta this summer.