Swordsmyth
12-04-2018, 09:08 PM
In the midst of one scandal after another, Facebook — already dealing with plummeting stock prices — is also facing what could prove to be an exodus of its workforce. Current employees are increasingly reaching out to former employees to ask for job references and opportunities outside the social-media giant.
Facebook had suffered a stock plunge of 22 percent — a total loss estimated at a whopping $100 billion. Yes, billion. Now, the old bad times may seem like the good old days, as the company’s losses are estimated at nearly 40 percent. Nothing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has done has seemed to stem the bleeding. To make matters worse, Facebook appears to be on the brink of a human resources hemorrhage. CNBC is reporting (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/02/facebook-employees-calling-former-colleagues-to-look-for-jobs-outside.html):
Some former Facebook employees say their phone is ringing a lot more in the last two months. On the other line: former Facebook colleagues asking about job openings or looking for a reference.
This type of behavior is normal at most companies. But according to a half dozen former employees, all of whom left in the last year or two, it's a major change in behavior at Facebook, which had long been known around Silicon Valley as the company that no one leaves. These people requested anonymity as none is authorized by Facebook to talk about their time there or interactions with employees.
And while Facebook still enjoys an employee satisfaction rating of 4.3 out of 5 on Glassdoor — a website where employees can anonymously rate their empolyers — most of that high rating is due to the number of older reviews. The 4.3 rating is sharply lower than it has been in the past, according to CNBC.
Facebook seems to be taking the There-Is-Nothing-To-See-Here approach. Company spokesman Anthony Harrison said, “Our retention rate continues to be very strong,” adding, “Everyone at Facebook is focused on making a positive impact in the world, and on working on hard challenges that matter.”
That denial appears to be purely a public-relations tactic, or perhaps the executive leadership of the embattled tech behemoth simply can’t face the ugly truth. At any rate, the company’s claims again fail to jibe with reality. As CNBC is reporting:
But several former employees who spoke to CNBC believe that the wave of scandals and falling stock price are spurring more people to consider leaving for the first time.
“There's new things coming out every day,” said one former company executive. “It's a quite somber atmosphere right now at the company.”
The report also mentions a former Facebook recruiter who said he has heard from more than 30 current Facebook employees in the past year — roughly half of those in the past two months alone. He said the typical comment he hears from most of these contacts is, “My manager sucks, and I need to look for something new. Do you know of any new opportunities?”
One tradition among Facebook employees who have quit is to post photos of their employee badges to a secret Facebook page populated by former employees. The former Facebook executive quoted earlier in this article told CNBC, “I've been seeing a lot of badges lately.”
As the company has become more and more embroiled in “politics” and “grandstanding,” it appears to be moving away from the culture of a start-up environment in which fellow-employees felt they were part of a team and toward a culture of top-down management, according to one former Facebook manager. “There's a lot of people who succeed more by how things looked than by the work they were doing,” he said, adding, “and there were people who were let go that were incredibly well-respected and it was because they weren't playing the politics game.”
And whereas fairly new Facebook employees (those only at the company for a year or two) have historically requested to switch teams within the company if they were unhappy, “This time around far more people are immediately jumping instead of switching teams,” according to a former engineer interviewed by CNBC. That engineer said he has personally been contacted by about a dozen Facebook employees since leaving the company this summer. “Overall, I've seen an uptick in people either looking for other activities or dipping their toes outside the Facebook pool,” he added.
Because Facebook classifies departing employees as either “regrettable” or “non-regrettable” attrition, and since being blacklisted by the company decreases the likelihood of offers from other top-tier Silicon Valley companies, Facebook employees thinking of leaving have to carefully plan their departures. “The way you do it and the timing matters a lot, and it requires knowledge of the game,” according to a former Facebook engineer. A former manager agrees, saying that a bad recommendation from Facebook is enough to make your name “like Voldemort,” adding, “It's a name you can not say.”
More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/computers/item/30806-former-employees-facebook-poised-for-exodus-of-current-employees
Facebook had suffered a stock plunge of 22 percent — a total loss estimated at a whopping $100 billion. Yes, billion. Now, the old bad times may seem like the good old days, as the company’s losses are estimated at nearly 40 percent. Nothing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has done has seemed to stem the bleeding. To make matters worse, Facebook appears to be on the brink of a human resources hemorrhage. CNBC is reporting (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/02/facebook-employees-calling-former-colleagues-to-look-for-jobs-outside.html):
Some former Facebook employees say their phone is ringing a lot more in the last two months. On the other line: former Facebook colleagues asking about job openings or looking for a reference.
This type of behavior is normal at most companies. But according to a half dozen former employees, all of whom left in the last year or two, it's a major change in behavior at Facebook, which had long been known around Silicon Valley as the company that no one leaves. These people requested anonymity as none is authorized by Facebook to talk about their time there or interactions with employees.
And while Facebook still enjoys an employee satisfaction rating of 4.3 out of 5 on Glassdoor — a website where employees can anonymously rate their empolyers — most of that high rating is due to the number of older reviews. The 4.3 rating is sharply lower than it has been in the past, according to CNBC.
Facebook seems to be taking the There-Is-Nothing-To-See-Here approach. Company spokesman Anthony Harrison said, “Our retention rate continues to be very strong,” adding, “Everyone at Facebook is focused on making a positive impact in the world, and on working on hard challenges that matter.”
That denial appears to be purely a public-relations tactic, or perhaps the executive leadership of the embattled tech behemoth simply can’t face the ugly truth. At any rate, the company’s claims again fail to jibe with reality. As CNBC is reporting:
But several former employees who spoke to CNBC believe that the wave of scandals and falling stock price are spurring more people to consider leaving for the first time.
“There's new things coming out every day,” said one former company executive. “It's a quite somber atmosphere right now at the company.”
The report also mentions a former Facebook recruiter who said he has heard from more than 30 current Facebook employees in the past year — roughly half of those in the past two months alone. He said the typical comment he hears from most of these contacts is, “My manager sucks, and I need to look for something new. Do you know of any new opportunities?”
One tradition among Facebook employees who have quit is to post photos of their employee badges to a secret Facebook page populated by former employees. The former Facebook executive quoted earlier in this article told CNBC, “I've been seeing a lot of badges lately.”
As the company has become more and more embroiled in “politics” and “grandstanding,” it appears to be moving away from the culture of a start-up environment in which fellow-employees felt they were part of a team and toward a culture of top-down management, according to one former Facebook manager. “There's a lot of people who succeed more by how things looked than by the work they were doing,” he said, adding, “and there were people who were let go that were incredibly well-respected and it was because they weren't playing the politics game.”
And whereas fairly new Facebook employees (those only at the company for a year or two) have historically requested to switch teams within the company if they were unhappy, “This time around far more people are immediately jumping instead of switching teams,” according to a former engineer interviewed by CNBC. That engineer said he has personally been contacted by about a dozen Facebook employees since leaving the company this summer. “Overall, I've seen an uptick in people either looking for other activities or dipping their toes outside the Facebook pool,” he added.
Because Facebook classifies departing employees as either “regrettable” or “non-regrettable” attrition, and since being blacklisted by the company decreases the likelihood of offers from other top-tier Silicon Valley companies, Facebook employees thinking of leaving have to carefully plan their departures. “The way you do it and the timing matters a lot, and it requires knowledge of the game,” according to a former Facebook engineer. A former manager agrees, saying that a bad recommendation from Facebook is enough to make your name “like Voldemort,” adding, “It's a name you can not say.”
More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/computers/item/30806-former-employees-facebook-poised-for-exodus-of-current-employees