Sunday, December 11, 2022

THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND

Meta staff are hitting out at Mark Zuckerberg in Blind reviews because they think his metaverse obsession will 'single-handedly kill' the company

Mark Zuckerberg apologized on Wednesday for making 11,000 job cuts.Drew Angerer/Getty Images
  • Meta employees are posting negative comments about Mark Zuckerberg on anonymous forum Blind.

  • A software developer said Meta's CEO will "single-handedly kill" the company with the metaverse.

  • The reviews were posted on the day that Meta axed 13% of its workforce and on the following day.

Meta employees are taking aim at Mark Zuckerberg in employee reviews on Blind, the anonymous forum.

Some reviews, posted on Wednesday – the day Meta laid off 13% of its workforce – are negative, although others are more positive. One user likened the layoffs to the "hunger games" and another said the Facebook owner had an "uncertain future."
Insider surveyed the workplace community app, where staff can air their grievances in posts and reviews, to see what was being said about Meta and its CEO. Some 44 employee reviews of Meta were posted on Blind on Wednesday and Thursday this week.

"The Metaverse will be our slow death," one user, who called themselves a senior software developer, posted on Wednesday. They added: "Mark Zuckerberg will single-handedly kill a company with the meta-verse."

Zuckerberg apologized to staff for the need to cut 11,000 jobs, admitting that he "got this wrong".

Blind users must provide their work email email address, job title and employer when joining the platform so the company can "gauge the professional status" of posters, according to its website.

A user's employment is not officially verified, however. Blind said it occasionally sent prompts to users to "re-verify" their accounts.

Rick Chen, head of public relations at Blind, told Insider: "Nearly all of the reviews posted have been written by current employees of the respective companies at the time of writing, as people generally cannot access Blind after they are laid off or resign."

He added: "The loss of access after an employment change is not immediate."

Meta employees have posted almost 6,000 reviews of the company on Blind since 2020 and it has a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

A self-described engineer, who gave the company five stars, listed "extremely smart and talented coworkers" as well as "great culture" in a list of "pros". Posting on the day the layoffs were made, they added that "Zuck is leading this company in the wrong direction" in their list of "cons".

A user who says they are a data scientist said Meta is in "need of layoffs in executive level," adding: "Leadership is having no clue, they mistake motion for a progress."

One person, who said they worked in talent acquisition, gave Meta a four-star rating on Wednesday. They said it was an "overall great place to experience" adding that "Mark is not afraid to take risks (which is a good and bad thing)."

A poster, who says they are a senior technical program manager, wrote on Thursday: "Poor leadership is on track to sink this ship." They went on to list "good pay" perks, benefits and talented peers as "pros". The "cons" included: "No accountability at and above Director level. VPs and Directors are here to just milk the company without adding any value."

They added: "I thought it was a data-driven company but actually it is one man's gut feeling and emotions-driven. Nobody can overwrite his decision."

Not all Meta employees share the negative view of Zuckerberg, however. One former staff member who was laid off Wednesday told Insider that they felt the CEO handled the layoffs "with humanity".

Another engineer gave the company just one star on Wednesday and described the mass cuts as the "worst layoff in history." They said: "With the layoff, I wouldn't recommend anyone to work there until the stock price fully recovers."

Meta did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.


Staff say 'stay away from Twitter 2.0' in Blind reviews due to its 'toxic' culture under Elon Musk

Twitter employees have posted 180 reviews on Blind since Elon Musk took over.Getty Images
  • Twitter employees are warning potential recruits to "stay away" from the company in Blind reviews.

  • One worker claimed the company has a "cut-throat culture" since Elon Musk took over the platform. 

  • Staff posted 33 reviews in December alone and 180 since Musk became the owner and CEO.

Twitter employees are posting reviews of the company on Blind and warning potential new hires to "stay away from Twitter 2.0."

Staff have posted 33 reviews of their employer on the anonymous networking site this month. Some are warning people not to join Twitter, while others say the culture has changed for the worse and described it as "toxic."

One Blind user told people to "wake up and stay away from Twitter 2.0" in their review on December 3. They said the company offered "fair compensation" to those who joined earlier, but that "Elon Musk ruined everything" because the "pay is no longer transparent."

Blind has told Insider that users can only upload a review of a company they work for. The anonymous posters are required to provide their work email address, job title and employer when they sign up so Blind can "gauge the professional status" of users.

A self-described people manager said Twitter was once an "amazing company" with a "welcoming culture" in their review posted December 6. They also said: "Don't come here if you value well-being or a safe workplace."

Another Twitter employee gave the company a rating of one star out of five. In their list of pros, they said: "Nothing tbh. Twitter 1.0 was cool, but the new one, if you can work elsewhere just go there."

The worker included "cut-throat culture" and "leadership just sucking up to EM" among their list of cons in their review.

One reviewer described it as a "sinking ship with Elon Musk" in their review. They said: "Overworked with extreme hours, always on PIP [performance improvement plan] and threatened to get fired, supervised by under-qualified engineers, no credit for work, no decision-making power."

Musk issued Twitter staff an ultimatum to sign up to his "Twitter 2.0" vision and "work long hours at high intensity" or quit after he fired almost half of Twitter's workforce last month.

About 1,400 Twitter employees signed up to Blind after Musk bought Twitter on October 27, Blind's co-founder told Insider. A total of 180 reviews of Twitter have been posted by employees on Blind since Musk took over.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

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