Corporate culture at Facebook/Meta from false classifications to the fight against “low performers” to monitoring

dossier

Facebook is a creative company, without a doubt. That's why the company management came up with a way to leave overtime unpaid. Not something like simply not paying out, which is becoming increasingly fashionable around the world. Nor do we try to blackmail you like, if you don't work more for free, we'll go bankrupt - Facebook doesn't do that. There is promotion: not out, like at Tesla, but really high. A far above-average number of employees are promoted to management, and as is well known, managers do not get paid overtime. TheReport “Lawsuit accuses Facebook of scheming to weasel out of paying overtime” by David Kravets on October 29, 2017 at ars technica is about the lawsuit that has now been filed on behalf of an unspecified number of employees and alleges that Facebook has a company-wide system of misclassification. See other posts about this lawsuit and other aspects of this specific company culture:

• End of “Tokenmaxxing” at Meta: Employees only have to use AI if it serves a purpose - the workforce no longer trusts the new AI agent Hatch
  “Employees are no longer judged solely on AI usage and token consumption. For this purpose, a new AI agent is “suggested” to them.
  The AI ​​hype has produced a bizarre side effect: so-called tokenmaxxing. It works like this: Companies no longer judge and reward their employees based on actual performance, but rather based on AI use and the amount of tokens used. On the one hand, this did not lead to any measurable increase in efficiency, but rather the opposite was usually the case: AI was used even when it offered no added value at all.On the other hand, costs have exploded . After Amazon and Microsoft, tokenmaxxing is now officially discontinued at Meta. At least that's the official part. In return, employees should now use an AI agent called Hatch - which means that token consumption will continue to increase.
  The bizarre consequences of tokenmaxxing
  In an article from Wired the bizarre situation is dissected in more detail. A year ago, Meta began evaluating employees based on their “AI-supported impact”. Depending on the frequency of AI use, they were divided into the categories “AI Native”, “AI First” or “AI Enabled”. The result: Chatbots and AI agents were used as frequently as possible, with questionable benefits at best. How do you know that? This emerges from a lawsuit filed in July by several former employees. (…)
  Hatch and the crisis of trust in the workplace
  At the center of the new phase of AI use that has now begun is the agent in question called Hatch. The tool is very reminiscent of OpenClaw and is no longer limited to just generating text or suggesting code. Instead, Hatch operates directly on the user interface of computers: it surfs the web, independently operates third-party applications and executes workflows autonomously. In the past few weeks, the workforce has been able to test Hatch on company computers - as a test run for a later release. Use is officially voluntary, but skepticism runs deep. As two Meta insiders tell Wired, many employees are hesitant to give the agent access to personal calendars, private email accounts or other sensitive services. There is too much concern about data espionage. This reluctance is no coincidence: the workforce's trust in management's AI visions has been shaken. The group had previously operated a now-stopped project that recorded keystrokes and activities on employee devices in order to collect training data for AI models. This total surveillance caused considerable resentment within the company. (…) The fact that Meta now dispenses with coercion and that employees do not have to fear negative comments in the performance review if they do not use it is seen as a step towards calming the mood. Some employees are now actually using Hatch productively, it is said. At the same time, however, the new generation of agents raises an old problem. Even if the deliberate inflating of token statistics is no longer encouraged: the pure computing effort of Hatch far exceeds conventional chatbots or programming assistants of earlier days, according to the report.There is therefore increasing criticism among employees about the ecological and economic costs of this automation. (…) Added to this is the underlying pressure from management. There is still a feeling among employees that managers want to see teams actively mastering AI tools and integrating them into their work. And this is exactly where the next paradox threatens: If Hatch delivers the hoped-for leap in efficiency, parts of the workforce will fear new waves of layoffs. It only recently became clear that these fears are real: According to a Reuters report, Meta was already planning the next big round of layoffs - in addition to the around 8,000 job cuts in May. However, the plans have been stopped for the time being. The reason is the error rate in software code caused by AI and slower progress in agent development.” Article by Peter Zellinger from September 4, 2026 in DerStandard online (“Meta: Employees only have to use AI if it serves a purpose”)
• Dozens of Meta employees file lawsuit claiming the use of AI in layoffs affects workers who are on protected leave
  “Meta explains that the allegations have no factual basis and that the decisions about layoffs were made by humans, not AI.
  A group of 26 Meta employees have sued the company, claiming it used artificial intelligence systems to select employees affected by layoffs, disproportionately affecting those on medical, parental or family leave.
  They are among the 8,000 employees – around 10 percent of the workforce – whose layoffs Meta announced in May. The lawsuit, filed late Monday in federal court in Oakland, California, alleges the company used, among other things, internal AI systems, keystroke and activity monitoring data, AI token usage dashboards, and algorithmically powered performance rankings to decide who should be fired…” EnglishArticle by Barbara Ortutay and Alexandra Olson (The Associated Press) July 15, 2026 at cbc.ca (machine translated)
• “Like lab rats”: Meta-employees in the US and UK fight back against constant keyboard surveillance and exploitation for training data
  • “Like lab rats”: Meta-employees organize against permanent keyboard surveillance
    “Many do not accept recording of all activities including mouse movements. The workforce is simmering
    From software developer to involuntary data donor, that's probably the easiest way to describe Meta's current ideas. The social media company has recently begun recording all of its employees' keyboard strokes and mouse movements. But since the announcement of this idea, things have been brewing within the group. The employees feel like lab rats. At the center is the so-called Model Capability Initiative (MCI). This is mandatory software that Meta has installed on the work laptops of its US employees. (…) Since current models often fail due to simple tasks such as using menus or complex key combinations, the actions of employees on their computers now serve as direct training data sets.
    “People are exploited for training data”
    The resistance within the company is great. In an internal post read by nearly 20,000 employees, one developer was clear: "I don't want to live in a world where people - whether employees or not - are exploited for their training data."
    A petition calling for the end of the MCI program has been circulating within the company since last week. In offices in California and New York, flyers are posted in cafeterias and even in bathrooms to encourage colleagues to sign. According to insiders, the mood is at an all-time low.
    In an internal post, according to Wired, a developer described what he sees as a deterioration in Meta's corporate culture over the last eleven years, with much of this change taking place in the last five years.
    “Layoffs, budget cuts, years of efficiency and intensity measures all contributed to a growing sense of fear,” the employee wrote. He described how he became increasingly apathetic towards his work and his workplace until the introduction of surveillance software shocked him. (…) At the same time, the sword of Damocles hovers over the workforce. From May 20th, Meta is planning a wave of layoffs that could affect around a tenth of the workforce worldwide. At the same time, internal pressure is increasing: employees are encouraged to use AI tools, even if they slow down the workflow in the short term, in order to improve the models.
    Protests also in Great Britain
    While the legal hurdles for employee surveillance are extremely low in the USA, the waves are already making waves across the Atlantic. In the UK meta-offices, the MCI program has led to increased efforts to form a union…”Article from May 15, 2026 in derstandard.de 
  • An engineer's post opposing laptop surveillance is spreading like wildfire within Meta
    “Meta employees in the US and UK are fighting back against company software that records employees' keystrokes and mouse movements…” EnglishArticle from May 14, 2026 at WIRED – behind paywall
  • AI-Builder: Everything for AI: Meta monitors keystrokes of its employees
    “Screenshots and mouse movements are also captured. Employees are working on their own replacement by AI agents (…) Andrew Bosworth explained to employees that in the future AI agents will primarily take over the work. The role of people now only lies in controlling and supervising the results. A Meta spokesman emphasized to Reuters that the tracking of almost all activities on company devices is not used to monitor performance, but is only used to train AI models. There are security precautions to protect sensitive content. However, there is no precise information as to which data is excluded from collection.At the same time, Meta is planning massive personnel savings…”Article from April 23, 2026 in derstandard.de 
  • See also “After revelations about surveillance glasses: Meta quits outsourcing company, which then lays off 1,000 people in Kenya” in the dossier:[Content Moderators Union in Africa] Behind ChatGPT, Facebook and Co. there are precarious and traumatizing working conditions
  • and the dossier:Artificial Intelligence: Use of AI in the world of work – consequences and co-determination
• The wave of layoffs at Meta is intended to ensure 5% of fresh and fit blood - many of the 3,600 people laid off were initially defined as “low performers”.
  • Mark Zuckerberg fired 3,600 so-called low performers at Meta: “Meta is now the cruelest tech company out there,” wrote a Meta employee
    "Those affected by the current wave of mass layoffs at Meta contradict the company's assessment of them as low performers. Those affected were previously classified as "above average" but were later dismissed while on parental leave or sick leave, according to the anonymous job platform Blind. Others said Meta even fired them while they were on approved leave. (…) Employees with almost a decade of experience were fired. (…) The company announced in January that it would lay off five percent of its employees, around 3,600 employees, with the focus on employees with “lower performance”. CNBC reported on a memo from CEO Mark Zuckerberg that the board had decided to “fire underperforming employees more quickly.” The multi-billionaire announced that 2025 will be “an eventful year.” Article by Achim Sawall from February 14, 2025 in golem.de 
  • Wave of layoffs at Meta: Are those laid off really low performers?
    “In January, Meta announced that it would lay off five percent of its employees. Those who do particularly little should go. But many of the laid-off meta-employees now say they received very good performance reports.
    Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg wanted to make room for better peoplefive percent of our own workforce dismissed and replaced by more efficient employees. When 4,000 meta-employees were laid off on February 10, 2025, many of the alleged low performers were surprised. Because their last feedback discussions were actually very positive.The American oneBusiness Insider reports how many of the employees were surprised when they found out they were being laid off. The online medium spoke to some terminated employees who said that they received good feedback in the last half-yearly interview in 2024...”Article by Nils Bolder from February 11, 2025 in t3n , see also:
  • Meta's CTO openly criticizes dissatisfied employees: “They should consider working somewhere else”
    Article by Jyoti Mann from February 14, 2025 in businessinsider.de 
• Priorities to be fulfilled: Meta doesn’t want “poor performers”
  “San Francisco. The Facebook parent company Meta wants to exchange five percent of the workforce. "I have decided to raise the bar for performance management and weed out low-performing workers more quickly," the Bloomberg news agency quoted on Tuesday from a message from Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg to a total of around 72,400 employees. The layoffs are intended to ensure that Meta has the "best talent" and is able to hire new people. The measure affects around 3,600 people, as AFP reported. The group had already laid off several thousand employees in 2023.”Agency report in the young world from January 17, 2025 
• Facebook company Meta prohibits employees from discussing topics such as abortion, weapons or vaccinations in the workplace
  “…In the future, employees of the Facebook group Meta should no longer have discussions about controversial political topics such as abortion, gun control or the effectiveness of vaccines while at work. The US magazine “Fortune” reported this, citing an internal instruction from Meta human resources manager Lori Goler. According to the report, in an internal forum, Goler wrote to all employees that the company was implementing new rules that dictate what is considered appropriate discussion in the workplace. “As (company founder) Mark (Zuckerberg) recently mentioned, we need to make a number of cultural changes that will help us meet our priorities,” Goler wrote. This has the disadvantage that every kind of expression of opinion will no longer be permitted in the workplace. “We believe this is the right thing to do for the long-term health of our internal community.”…“Report from December 8, 2022 in Business Insider Germany online 
• Facebook parent company: This is how Meta secretly pushes its employees out
  “Facebook parent company Meta apparently wants to reduce costs by at least 10 percent in the coming months. To this end, the company quietly and secretly began to restructure departments,reports the Wall Street Journal citing current and former managers of the group. However, Meta only gives employees a limited time window of 30 days to apply for other positions within the company. The social media group is faced with stagnant growth and increased competition, it goes on to say. A large part of the costs should therefore be reduced through savings in personnel costs. (…) As the “WSJ” further reports, Meta has lowered its cost forecasts since the third quarter of 2021, but has not indicated that it will reduce the number of employees in any way other than through natural fluctuation. Now even employees who actually have a good reputation and are high performers are being pushed out of the company…”Report from September 22nd, 2022 at Manager Magazin online 
• [Facebook] Finding employees was easier
  "...Cambridge Analytica has ruined a lot for Facebook. Not just for the social media platform, of course, but there are rumors going around that CEO Mark Zuckerberg had the name of the data crook's den with no great business future written on his punchball in the basement and has been screaming wildly ever since, especially on the letters C and A. Now it's gotten to the point that he and his company are missing out on new workers. Recruiters say that the willingness to hire at Facebook has noticeably decreased Possible candidates who have just received their training and are looking for an employer that is as attractive as possible are asking increasingly critical questions about the privacy model of data management and what else they do and want to do at “F” that they may not have heard much about in public before. There is a certain mistrust, you can say that. (…) Microsoft is still going through a bit of a trough of tears because developers have increasingly turned their backs on the company over the past few decades. Especially when it came to web development. But there are now some clear signals in the other direction since Redmond lovingly embraced Linux and released the developer tools that can now be used to code quite well. So transparency and making your own work easier. That also seems to help to bind the good people back to you. Eat that, Mark Zuckerberg…” Contribution by Harald Taglinger from May 27, 2019 on Telepolis 
• “Facebook Deprived Workers of Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit” on October 30, 2017 at Class Action Wallet is also a report on this lawsuit, in which some further information is published about the plaintiff and her work, which really has nothing to do with - whatever they do - any management work, but is completely normal sales activity.

• “Facebook is facing a class-action lawsuit for trying to avoid paying its workers overtime” by Hanna Kozlowska on October 30, 2017 at Quartz.com reports that the lawsuit affects around 200 CSM representatives from Facebook, all of whom had to work more than the agreed 40 hour week without being paid for it.

• “Facebook worker living in garage to Zuckerberg: challenges are right outside your door” by Julia Wong on July 24, 2017 at The Guardian was a contribution on the occasion of Mr. Zuckerberg's promotional tour of the USA in order to get to know the reality of the country, as the promotion put it. The article assumes that he did not have to travel so far: two employees live in a Facebook cafeteria a short distance from his home and Facebook headquarters. Their wages are only enough to live with their two children in a garage without sanitary facilities. (But they are also not listed as managers of the cafeteria…).

• "Scraping by on six figures? Tech workers feel poor in Silicon Valley's wealth bubble" by Olivia Solon on February 27, 2017 also in The Guardian is a post about well-earning senior employees at Facebook - who, in view of the rent explosion, are increasingly having problems making ends meet with their salaries. But what should you do if the company only makes 9 billion in profit? In the quarter, of course...

See also our sectionFacebook: “Friends” in and as a danger

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