Welcome to “28 days of hell.”
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That’s how one Meta employee characterized the tech giant’s announcement that thousands of jobs will be cut on May 20. Employees flooded internal forums with similar posts, many of which were filled with anxiety, dark humor, and questions as they wait to learn who will be out of a job.
“How are you motivating yourself to work for the next 1 month with layoffs confirmed?” one person posted on the anonymous workplace app Blind, in a section just for Meta employees.
Someone else replied, “I’m motivating myself to do stuff that I can put on my resume for my next job lol.”
In a memo sent to staff on Thursday, Meta said it shared some layoff details earlier than usual because the news had already leaked. The company plans to cut around 10% of employees next month and close 6,000 open roles.
“I know this leaves everyone with nearly a month of ambiguity, which is incredibly unsettling,” wrote Meta’s chief people officer Janelle Gale.
For some Meta employees, the fact that company leadership acknowledged layoffs brought some relief. The layoffs had been so widely discussed internally that the announcement helped ease some uncertainty, according to one employee who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
One of the top comments under Gale’s internal Meta post was a picture of an elephant, a reference to leadership addressing the elephant in the room. Reuters first reported Meta was planning sweeping layoffs in March, and employees have been speculating on the extent of the cuts in the weeks since.
“elephant addressed!” commented another employee. Another posted a picture of an envelope that read: “Addressed to: “ELEPHANT.”
Others said that having to wait almost a month to find out who would be affected created anxiety. One person posted that this was their first week at the company. “It might be goodbye for me,” they wrote.
Another employee told Business Insider that the announcement added pressure for them to deliver results over the next month because it’s unknown which teams will be affected by the cuts.
“I’m a little stressed about making impact in the next month,” they said.
Despite a sense of added pressure, it’s not the employee’s first go-around with cuts at the company. The worker said they’re going to continue working as usual, assuming the worst while trying to make the most of the next month as they wait for further updates.
“I assume I’m always two months away from being laid off, no matter what leadership says, so I’m going to continue to operate as usual,” the employee said.
Employees also commented on Gale’s internal post with questions.
One person asked if Meta staff would receive their August 15 stock payouts, which are part of some employees’ compensation packages. Gale said that impacted employees would have a termination date prior to the August vest and would therefore not receive it.
“Because of the timing of the notifications, we will have just had the May 15 vest. There are some instances, based on work location, where people will remain employed through the August 15 vest,” Gale wrote. Another employee thanked Gale for the clarification.
Another employee asked if travel would be restricted the week of May 20. “We are not restricting travel company-wide. VPs will share team-specific guidance,” Gale responded.
‘I feel more anxious about surviving’
On the Meta employee section of Blind, some users asked why Meta couldn’t offer voluntary buyouts. Microsoft on Thursday offered one-time early retirement buyouts to thousands of its long-time employees, and Google has extended the same offers to staff across some orgs.
Many posts were from users asking others for information about which groups might be affected.
In a longer post, one user said the downside might be surviving the cuts.
“I feel more anxious about surviving this layoff,” they wrote, recalling several rounds of layoffs at the company since 2022.
“Because we all know it’s just gonna get worse for those of us who are left behind and have to absorb even more work, amongst other declining factors in this sad fearful company,” they wrote.
