Meta首席执行官马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)高估了电子商务热潮以及有多少人会对元宇宙感兴趣,因此,对那些受此影响的员工来说,本周三是一个特别难熬的日子。这并不是因为办公室里的咖啡很难喝,也不是因为残羹剩菜总是千篇一律;相反,根据彭博社得到的一份备忘录,裁员仍在继续。扎克伯格在备忘录中表示,最新的裁员会影响在脸书(Facebook)、WhatsApp、Instagram和Reality Labs工作的技术团队,并要求管理人员为将在今天发布的公告做好准备。
在过去的一年里,Meta并不是硅谷唯一一家大规模裁员的公司,但随着每位首席执行官轮流解雇员工,他们都找到了自己的裁员模式。目前流行的是远程裁员,尽管有些领导人如埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)会在深夜发送电子邮件,而另一些人如扎克伯格会召开一场呆板的Zoom会议。职场专家说,不管是以哪种方式,即使高管们认为裁员让他们看起来不近人情,但就所谓的成本节省而言,他们多半是徒劳无功的。
谈到裁员,这远不是扎克伯格的首次尝试。去年11月,这位首席执行官削减了1.1万个职位,这轮裁员有13%的员工受影响。Meta这艘风极一时的领航船最近已经出现了一些问题。今年3月,他警告说,还会进行更多轮裁员,提出了裁员1万人的具体计划,并将冻结招聘作为最重要的措施。据彭博社报道,本周三的裁员只是先前提出的裁员计划中的一部分,预计将在5月进行另一轮裁员。
扎克伯格将2023年定为Meta的“效率年”,而裁员计划只是“效率年”的一部分。从表面上看,这包括裁撤那些不再关键或是表现不佳的项目,转而专注于提高重要项目的效率,但潜藏在表面之下的似乎是大规模裁员。当扎克伯格在2022年11月宣布Meta的大规模裁员潮时,他加入了埃隆·马斯克等人的行列。众所周知,马斯克在以约200亿美元的溢价收购社交媒体公司推特(Twitter)后不久就解雇了一半的员工。马斯克的残酷无情并未带领推特走向成功,因为该公司员工不断减少,推特平台出现了宕机和故障等问题。
但其他科技高管很快也纷纷效仿,亚马逊在3月再次裁掉9000名员工,此前该公司已经裁掉了1.8万名员工,而谷歌则在1月份宣布裁员1.2万人。同为科技巨头的苹果公司在很大程度上一直在避免大规模裁员,而是选择了首席执行官减薪,并在公司零售部门进行了小幅裁员。
虽然扎克伯格是大规模裁员的先行者,但他现在也在追随潮流,倾向于远程解雇员工。就像最近麦当劳和谷歌采取的做法一样,Meta将远程宣布裁员。该备忘录要求北美的员工周三居家办公。其他进行远程裁员的公司表示,远程裁员使员工免受不必要的羞辱,并能够为员工提供更多慰藉。Meta公司并未对最近的备忘录置评,但向《财富》杂志提到了扎克伯格的备忘录,该备忘录提供了关于“效率年”的最新情况。
奇怪的是,尽管科技界的宠儿都在裁员,但他们可能要跳出最新的流行趋势思考问题。就像大块挑染和刺猬头一度很“流行”一样,但是流行并不意味着它们可以带来积极影响。宾夕法尼亚大学沃顿商学院管理学教授彼得·卡佩里(Peter Cappelli)表示,目前的情况可能很大程度上是由投资者施加的压力造成的,而且通常来说,裁员并不能降低成本。
卡佩里解释说,裁员在过去是临时性的,主要针对加入工会的员工和合同制蓝领工人。他说:“永久性裁员是1981年后出现的新想法。”他补充说,对此进行的“大量研究”并没有表明永久性裁员可以带来成本效益或提高生产力。像苹果公司那样推迟裁员可能会大有助益,因为卡佩里认为,从长远来看,现在的投资可以得到回报,这样高管们不必像竞争对手那样,在市场出现好转时匆忙培训人员进行招聘。(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
Meta首席执行官马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)高估了电子商务热潮以及有多少人会对元宇宙感兴趣,因此,对那些受此影响的员工来说,本周三是一个特别难熬的日子。这并不是因为办公室里的咖啡很难喝,也不是因为残羹剩菜总是千篇一律;相反,根据彭博社得到的一份备忘录,裁员仍在继续。扎克伯格在备忘录中表示,最新的裁员会影响在脸书(Facebook)、WhatsApp、Instagram和Reality Labs工作的技术团队,并要求管理人员为将在今天发布的公告做好准备。
在过去的一年里,Meta并不是硅谷唯一一家大规模裁员的公司,但随着每位首席执行官轮流解雇员工,他们都找到了自己的裁员模式。目前流行的是远程裁员,尽管有些领导人如埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)会在深夜发送电子邮件,而另一些人如扎克伯格会召开一场呆板的Zoom会议。职场专家说,不管是以哪种方式,即使高管们认为裁员让他们看起来不近人情,但就所谓的成本节省而言,他们多半是徒劳无功的。
谈到裁员,这远不是扎克伯格的首次尝试。去年11月,这位首席执行官削减了1.1万个职位,这轮裁员有13%的员工受影响。Meta这艘风极一时的领航船最近已经出现了一些问题。今年3月,他警告说,还会进行更多轮裁员,提出了裁员1万人的具体计划,并将冻结招聘作为最重要的措施。据彭博社报道,本周三的裁员只是先前提出的裁员计划中的一部分,预计将在5月进行另一轮裁员。
扎克伯格将2023年定为Meta的“效率年”,而裁员计划只是“效率年”的一部分。从表面上看,这包括裁撤那些不再关键或是表现不佳的项目,转而专注于提高重要项目的效率,但潜藏在表面之下的似乎是大规模裁员。当扎克伯格在2022年11月宣布Meta的大规模裁员潮时,他加入了埃隆·马斯克等人的行列。众所周知,马斯克在以约200亿美元的溢价收购社交媒体公司推特(Twitter)后不久就解雇了一半的员工。马斯克的残酷无情并未带领推特走向成功,因为该公司员工不断减少,推特平台出现了宕机和故障等问题。
但其他科技高管很快也纷纷效仿,亚马逊在3月再次裁掉9000名员工,此前该公司已经裁掉了1.8万名员工,而谷歌则在1月份宣布裁员1.2万人。同为科技巨头的苹果公司在很大程度上一直在避免大规模裁员,而是选择了首席执行官减薪,并在公司零售部门进行了小幅裁员。
虽然扎克伯格是大规模裁员的先行者,但他现在也在追随潮流,倾向于远程解雇员工。就像最近麦当劳和谷歌采取的做法一样,Meta将远程宣布裁员。该备忘录要求北美的员工周三居家办公。其他进行远程裁员的公司表示,远程裁员使员工免受不必要的羞辱,并能够为员工提供更多慰藉。Meta公司并未对最近的备忘录置评,但向《财富》杂志提到了扎克伯格的备忘录,该备忘录提供了关于“效率年”的最新情况。
奇怪的是,尽管科技界的宠儿都在裁员,但他们可能要跳出最新的流行趋势思考问题。就像大块挑染和刺猬头一度很“流行”一样,但是流行并不意味着它们可以带来积极影响。宾夕法尼亚大学沃顿商学院管理学教授彼得·卡佩里(Peter Cappelli)表示,目前的情况可能很大程度上是由投资者施加的压力造成的,而且通常来说,裁员并不能降低成本。
卡佩里解释说,裁员在过去是临时性的,主要针对加入工会的员工和合同制蓝领工人。他说:“永久性裁员是1981年后出现的新想法。”他补充说,对此进行的“大量研究”并没有表明永久性裁员可以带来成本效益或提高生产力。像苹果公司那样推迟裁员可能会大有助益,因为卡佩里认为,从长远来看,现在的投资可以得到回报,这样高管们不必像竞争对手那样,在市场出现好转时匆忙培训人员进行招聘。(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
This Wednesday is a particularly difficult hump day for those who fell victim to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s overestimation of the e-commerce boom and how many people would care for the metaverse. And it’s not because the in-office coffee is bad or meal-prepping leftovers has gotten tired; instead layoffs are continuing, according to a memo viewed by Bloomberg. Telling managers to brace for announcements today, Zuckerberg’s memo said Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs will be in the firing line.
Meta is far from the only company in Silicon Valley to issue mass layoffs during the past year, but as each CEO takes a turn at letting go of workers, they’ve all found their own grooves. In vogue is the remote layoff, though some leaders like Elon Musk will send an email late at night, and others like Zuckerberg will hold a stilted Zoom meeting. Either way, even if executives think these layoffs make them look badass, they largely just end up ineffective when it comes to the costs supposedly saved, workplace experts say.
This is far from Zuckerberg’s maiden voyage when it comes to layoffs. In November, the CEO cut 11,000 positions, effectively making 13% of his workforce walk the plank of the good ship Meta, which has sprung a few leaks of late. During March, he cautioned that there were more to come, specifically setting out plans to lay off 10,000 workers, and to implement a hiring freeze as the cherry on top. According to Bloomberg, this Wednesday is just part of that 10,000, and another round is expected in May.
It’s all part of Zuckerberg’s “Year of Efficiency,” which he has manifested for Meta’s 2023. On its face, this involves eliminating projects that aren’t performing or may no longer be as crucial in favor of focusing on increasing efficiency within essential projects, but what it looks like beneath the surface is giant cuts to the workforce. When he announced Meta’s massive layoff wave in November 2022, Zuckerberg joined the likes of Elon Musk, who famously sacked half of Twitter soon after overpaying by about $20 billion for the social media firm. Musk’s attempt to be seen as a cutthroat CEO has yet to lead to actual success as the company with dwindling staff has reported woes such as outages and glitches.
But other tech execs soon followed suit, as Amazon added 9,000 job cuts in March to its previous plan to lay off 18,000 employees, Google having announced it was cutting 12,000 jobs in January. Fellow tech giant, Apple largely has been staving off mass job cuts, opting for CEO pay cuts instead and a tiny layoff in the corporate retail division.
While Zuckerberg was an early mover in the massive layoff game, he’s now following a trend with his preference to get rid of workers remotely. As with the recent examples of McDonald’s and Google, Meta is going to declare redundancies remotely. The memo asked that workers in North America work from home on Wednesday. Other companies that conducted remote layoffs suggested that it saved employees from unneeded humiliation and provided more comfort. Meta did not comment on the recent memo but referred Fortune to Zuckerberg’s memo that provided an update on his year of efficiency.
Oddly enough, despite all the popular kids in the tech world going in for layoffs, they may want to think beyond the latest fad. Much like how chunky highlights and spiked hair used to be “in,” just because something is trending doesn’t mean it’s good. Likely a lot of what’s happening is about investor pressure, says UPenn Wharton School management professor Peter Cappelli, and layoffs don’t usually help reduce costs.
At one point layoffs used to be all temporary, and mainly focused on blue-collar employees that were unionized and contracted, explains Cappelli. “Permanent layoffs are a pretty new idea post-1981,” he says, adding that “a bunch of studies” on them haven’t shown that they are cost-effective or productive. Delaying layoffs, like Apple is, can be helpful since Cappelli describes that an investment now can be paid off in the long run as executives don’t have to rush and train people to hire like their competitors when there’s an upturn in the market.