ZUCK BONUS ISSUE

Amid Facebook layoffs

Meta employees demanded that CEO Mark Zuckerberg explain why top executives at Facebook’s parent company were given bonuses while thousands of their colleagues were being laid off, according to a report.

“Why did the entire executive team get EE/GE ratings when they are also directly responsible for the choices that led to us needing to lay off 20+% of the company?” a frustrated employee asked his boss during a town hall meeting convened by “the Zuck” on Thursday. “Where is the accountability?”

The news of the town hall was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

In the parlance of performance reviews, “EE” stands for “exceeds expectations” while “GE” connotes “greatly exceeds expectations.”

Executives who are deemed to have exceeded expectations are generally given bonuses.

Zuckerberg reportedly replied that he was pleased with how his top managers performed in their newly expanded roles.

The Meta boss also said the company will slow down hiring and that onboarding of new employees will not be done as quickly as they were before the first round of layoffs were announced late last year.

Zuckerberg said that this week’s layoffs affected 4,000 employees across the company’s tech divisions, including its social-media units — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — as well as its virtual reality department.

North America-based employees were reportedly told to work from home for the day as management began dispersing the layoff notices.

Demoralized employees took to social media where they posted images of their work badges as well as downed whiskey bottles.

‘Different model’

Meta last year announced plans to reduce its global headcount by some 21,000 employees — around a quarter of the total workforce.

Before the layoffs were announced, the company’s payroll numbered 87,000 people worldwide.

Zuckerberg told employees on Thursday that Meta will grow its workforce at the most by just 1% to 2% year over year.

“I just kind of think that for where we are in the efficiency that we’re able to get from new technologies, that’s probably the right model to expect going forward, and that will be a different operating model, and I think we can do it well,” Zuckerberg said.

He also left open the possibility of future layoffs.

Meanwhile, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri will relocate to the US after Meta slashed staff at the photo app’s London office.