Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg Says He Is Accountable as Company Preps for Mass Layoffs

https://www.wsj.com/articles/metas-mark-zuckerberg-says-he-is-accountable-as-company-preps-for-mass-layoffs-11667941107

by ahiknsr • 4 years ago

49 56 4 years ago

wsj.com

mikequinlan• 4 years ago

https://archive.ph/dIJ6A

FartyMcFarter2• 4 years ago

Newer version with more details: https://archive.ph/IeS1X

ripvanwinkle3• 4 years ago

going through captcha hell with that one, did about 10 of these and it doesn't stop

polishdude20• 4 years ago

Him saying he's accountable and not actually being held accountable is not really being "accountable".

prottog• 4 years ago

Well, he still owns >10% of the company. Accountability when you're a significant owner, not to mention a founder, doesn't just mean that you get fired and sent away from the table.

ralphmelish• 4 years ago

And has >50% of the votes via special shares. He is basically unaccountable.

valeness3• 4 years ago

So what does it mean?

jstx14• 4 years ago

He's losing 10s of billions, that seems like a very real way in which he's being held accountable.

DaiPlusPlus• 4 years ago

Once you're worth north of a few hundred million dollars, what practical, concrete, difference does a few billion added - or removed - from one's personal wealth make?

ironman1478• 4 years ago

And he'll still have billions. Real accountability would be being removed from his position (which I know isn't possible or at least extremely difficult). He doesn't care about the money, he cares about control.

davesque• 4 years ago

And his lifestyle would change...how exactly? And where do I sign up for that kind of accountability?

yamtaddle3• 4 years ago

Sorta, but I have trouble taking a bad outcome that is "your great-grandchildren still won't have to work for a living, unless you choose to make them" as, like, real consequences.

If someone who's already got $10m in the bank would happily trade their success for your "consequences", I dunno, just seems... fake. Like playing poker with quarters—sure you "care" but losing doesn't actually hurt in any meaningful way if your total stakes were $10 or whatever.

time_to_smile• 4 years ago

Just like we've seen the word "literally" transform into meaning roughly the same a "figuratively, but very strongly" we'll might see the word "accountable", start to mean "no consequences for me, but I do want people to think I feel bad (but don't worry, I don't)".

andirk3• 4 years ago

While I don't agree with the sentiment in this incident, the "accountable" word often means like "I wish I could make this better by doing absolutely nothing".

justapassenger• 4 years ago

What would you consider being held accountable?

Sure, resigning is an atomic option, for a CEO, founder, board member and person having controlling amount of votes. Is there anything else that you'd consider as true to that statement?

ripvanwinkle3• 4 years ago

Well he do something meaningful - say pay a full years wages for everyone laid off from his personal funds

karaterobot• 4 years ago

Think of it another way: accountability is answering to someone. As the majority shareholder and CEO, who is Zuckerberg accountable to? Nobody, really. He might say "I am accountable to the billions of Facebook users", but of course that's lip service: try scheduling a meeting with him to review his performance and put him on an improvement plan.

He has arranged the company so that he is not accountable to anybody, so him saying he is accountable is either a lie, or a misuse of that term.

TechBro86153• 4 years ago

If he does nothing, then eventually none of his employees will have a job.

falcolas2• 4 years ago

Being accountable could look like taking a hit himself - dropping his pay or stock option grants or a portion of his golden parachute, etc.

If this isn't happening, he's not being held accountable.

twelve40• 4 years ago

sure, but nobody forced him to hire 87,000 people in the first place, to work on bullshit projects. That's what he's "holding himself accountable" for. That's a lot of friggin people!!

andirk3• 4 years ago

Layoffs are always unfortunate, but didn't his company have the bright idea of making meetings all day into a virtual Second Life world where you can actually _see_ the other person's dog barking on the call? The experimental parts of the company hired a lot of those people and now can't keep them.

If he gives outgoing employees months of health care, all their PTO, etc. then what is the issue?

fleddr• 4 years ago

The thing he seems to miss is that people that have business meetings over Zoom/Teams do not actually look at each other much. They're looking at a shared screen showing an Excel sheet, some slide deck, code, whichever. The video feed is just a nice little touch.

Depending on company culture, quite a few meetings may be audio-only, further proving the point that seeing each other really isn't that important. It's nice, but not exactly the main purpose of the meeting.

andirk3• 4 years ago

Update:

employees who lose their jobs will be provided with at least four months of salary as severance

OK yeah for a decently skilled software engineer, that's 1 year of free rent in a very nice place in San Francisco. Those not laid off may wish they were.

FartyMcFarter2• 4 years ago

https://archive.ph/IeS1X

slaw• 4 years ago

at least four months of salary as severance

That is very generous severance. Financially it was worth working for Facebook even when you were hired a year ago.

kepler1• 4 years ago

Funny how even if your position (you believe) is relatively secure, this news sucks the air out of the working environment and everyone has it in the back of their mind even as they continue holding meetings, etc.

Specific info (1st hand knowledge):

Concur has had a suspicious outage today, preventing people from submitting final reimbursement claims. As well as a general hold on purchasing requests (people I suppose trying to get their benefits in).

A mysterious slowdown in meetings with director level leaders, etc. and certain things (project plans, kickoff meetings) being asked to wait for some more information before publishing.

Shitposting forum blowing up with half-joking memes.

gregjor2• 4 years ago

Responsible, but not really accountable. Accountable would mean falling on his sword.

joegahona• 4 years ago

Interesting:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accountable

1: subject to giving an account : ANSWERABLE held her accountable for the damage

2: capable of being explained : EXPLAINABLE … leaving aside variations accountable as printer's errors … Peter Shaw

Does "accountable" imply there's a price to pay for the person who is held accountable? (Wondering aloud, not challenging you.)

gregjor2• 4 years ago

I think in context and common usage "accountable" means facing some consequences for your actions or mistakes. Watching your net worth shrink (on paper) counts in some respect, but Zuckerberg won't lose his job, his benefits, have to move, or have to scramble to find a job in this climate.

I suppose we can call the Meta situation "capable of being explained" too. That won't really help the people getting laid off in the next week or two.

jp0d• 4 years ago

CEOs saying they're accountable is just another way of saying sorry (not really) and being polite. This is just business and as long as reasonable severance packages are paid, employees will be willing to work there when times are better.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg Says He Is Accountable as Company Preps for Mass Layoffs

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