Meta employees – Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a large companywide AI hackathon next month, but internal messages show many employees frustrated by added workload after recent mass layoffs and skeptical that there’s time—or incentive—to participate.
Meta employees didn’t react with excitement to Mark Zuckerberg’s plan for a companywide AI hackathon. In internal messages shared with a technology publication. frustration showed up quickly—paired with disbelief that the company would ask people to carve out time for another extra activity after recent mass layoffs.
Zuckerberg’s announcement came on Friday about a “large” companywide AI hackathon next month. Within hours. some workers said the layoffs and new responsibilities have left them with little time for anything beyond core work. One employee wrote. “I’m literally preoccupied with keeping the lights on for my team. ” adding. “I have no incentive to participate. let alone have the time to do so.”.
The pushback wasn’t limited to private complaints. In a post shared to Meta’s roughly 70. 000 employees. Zuckerberg framed the hackathon as a way for staff to build camaraderie during “widespread internal unrest.” Ime Archibong. a vice president of product management at Meta. later added event details. saying it would run from July 14 to July 16 and focus “exclusively on AI Innovation.”.
Even with those specifics on the calendar, the mood inside the company turned sharp. Several employees responded with angry messages and sarcastic memes. One comment that drew more than 200 thumbs-up and heart reactions said. “I’m not sure that this company supports a hackathon culture anymore.” The employee pointed to what they described as a squeeze: “People are being asked to cover more work with less support while their colleagues get laid off. while also trying to avoid the risk of causing SEV1s [serious technical errors] with incautious AI use.”.
Another layer of frustration was what employees believed would *not* come with participation. The same employee alleged that hackathon efforts would not count toward performance evaluations. That detail fueled the sense that people could be asked to spend time on innovation without a clear payoff.
Dozens of reactions also came in the form of a meme inspired by the comedy film *We’re the Millers*. with the caption. “You all have the time for a hackathon?” One worker wrote. “I honestly don’t have the time to focus on this. and I’m expected to be 100% devoted” to their regular work. The complaint echoed another: “I’ve participated in previous hackathons but this no longer feels like an option alongside pod sprints in my corner of the company.”.
A third staffer criticized what they described as a cultural shift, saying it was “disappointing” because they “don’t believe there is sufficient feeling of safety to spend time on hackathon innovations.” Meta declined to comment for the story.
Meta has hosted internal hackathons for years. but two people said the companywide event is the first of its kind since 8. 000 people were laid off last month. In response to some of the pushback, a Meta software engineering veteran told employees that everyone is encouraged to participate. That reassurance didn’t land cleanly. One employee replied. “Every org I know has super aggressive goals. with efficiency gains expected and significantly less staffing. ” adding. “There’s less time for focusing on other axis.”.
The hackathon is only one piece of a wider effort Zuckerberg laid out on Friday to reenergize the workforce and respond to internal criticism about the layoffs and other concerns. Zuckerberg said budgets for team offsites would increase. He also said the concept of hot desking—where workers are in the office only part of the time and have to share desks—would be done away with in some offices.
Last year. some workers had tried to organize a response to changes involving desk removals. with a person familiar with the efforts describing sensitive discussions where colleagues were surveyed about the chaos and lost productivity they said it caused. That group urged management to return to every employee having their own space. The layoffs may have created more room to attempt changes. but employees say it also narrowed the time they have to hack.
Meta Mark Zuckerberg AI hackathon Ime Archibong SEV1 layoffs hot desking internal unrest AI innovation company culture