In internal messages seen by WIRED, some workers wrote that added responsibilities in the wake of recent mass layoffs at the tech giant left them with little time to engage in such helpful activities. Others said they felt discouraged from participating due to low morale and declining trust in management throughout the company.
“I’m really busy keeping the lights on for my team,” one employee wrote Friday. “I have no incentive to participate, let alone devote the time to do so.”
In a post shared with Meta’s nearly 70,000 employees, Zuckerberg described the hackathon as a way to create camaraderie for employees at a time of widespread internal unrest. Imee Archibong, vice president of product management at Meta, later shared additional details about the event, which she said will take place from July 14 to July 16 and will focus “specifically on AI innovation.”
Archibong’s post sparked outrage from many employees, who responded with angry messages and sarcastic memes. “I’m not sure this company supports hackathon culture anymore,” one employee wrote in a comment, which garnered more than 200 thumbs-up and heart reactions. “People are being asked to do more work with less support while their coworkers are being laid off, while also trying to avoid exposure to SEV1s [serious technical errors] With careless use of AI.”
The same employee alleged that hackathon efforts would not count toward performance evaluations, leading to frustration among workers about the prospect of setting aside other projects to participate.
Dozens of people reacted with laughs and thumbs-up to a meme inspired by the comedy film We’re the MillersStating, “You all have time for the hackathon?”
Another employee wrote, “Honestly, I don’t have time to focus on this, and I’m expected to be 100% dedicated to routine work”. “I have participated in hackathons in the past but with Pod Sprint in my corner of the company it no longer seems to be an option.”
A third employee described it as a “disappointing change in culture” because “I don’t think there’s enough of a sense of security to spend time on hackathon innovations.”
Meta declined to comment for this story.
Meta has long hosted internal hackathons, but two sources told WIRED that this is the first to be held companywide after it laid off 8,000 people last month.
A veteran of Meta Software engineering responded to some employee complaints by saying that everyone is encouraged to participate. But the message still didn’t land well. One employee commented, “Every organization I know has extremely aggressive goals, expecting increased efficiency and significantly reduced headcount.” “There is less time to focus on other axes.”
The hackathon was one of several initiatives launched by Zuckerberg on Friday to reenergize his workforce and address internal criticism about recent layoffs and other concerns. He said there will be an increase in budget for team offsites and the concept of hot desking in some offices, or simply having employees share a desk in the office, will be eliminated.
Last year, some employees banded together to clear out their desks and survey coworkers about the chaos and productivity loss it caused, according to a person familiar with the efforts who asked to remain anonymous to describe sensitive discussions. The group urged management to return every employee his or her place. The layoffs seem to have opened up space, leaving less time for hacking.
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