Big tech in crisis: lay-offs, cuts and deflated morale

After years of growth, the social media tech giants are now slashing at budgets in a difficult post-Covid slump, and worried workers are speaking out

- Chris Stokel-Walker

TIMES are grim in big tech. Projects have been stalled, things are in stasis, and the mood is foul. "It's awful," says one worker in London's Meta offices, who wishes to remain anonymous. "People want to be here because they need the work, but they also don't want to be here because their colleagues have disappeared - and they know they could be next." Another says their bosses have been given a number of staff to slash from each team, and workers are trying desperately to one-up each other to save their own skins.

"It's become cut-throat," says the Meta worker. "You're seeing the worst in people." The reason? Meta's mass lay-offs, which began late last year, are set to continue. More cuts are expected later this month, with staff undergoing performance reviews to see who should stay. It's part of what Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told analysts last month was a "flattening [of] our org structure and removing some layers in middle management to make decisions faster" business jargon for job cuts.

The picture isn't much better elsewhere. Another London tech worker the Evening Standard spoke to, who came to the UK from India on a work visa, is spending every waking hour outside of work - alongside some within working hours at Amazon - searching for jobs. He's been told his job has not been impacted yet, but he is in a consultation period. "I am super busy right now," he says, “interviewing almost every day".

The once vibrant tech sector is now deflated, as are the workers who kept its endless momentum going for years. One former Twitter worker, laid off by Elon Musk late last year and who has since found a job outside the tech sector, simply replied with a shrugging emoji when asked for his sentiment.