Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth recently implied that AI gains mean gains for the company when asked if employees could see more time off thanks to AI-motivated efficiencies. Reinforcing archaic ideas about employee loyalty and the idea of employees tying their focus solely to performing their jobs, the executive chided an employee for asking after the “Meta Days” program, indicating that employees should channel the extra time freed up by AI back into working even more on the products that the company has been building recently. Not only is this a key lesson in how not to dismiss employee questions, but it is also a lesson on why so many leaders fail to reach employees in any meaningful way.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth’s comments on AI productivity leading to more work showcase the growing disconnect between executives and employees. (Image: Pexels)
Meta CTO Speaks on AI and How Time Saved with the Tech Is Time Saved for More Work
According to Business Insider, in a Q&A earlier in July, Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, was asked if the supposed AI productivity gains could be used to introduce more vacation time for employees. In particular, the employee inquired about “Meta Days,” a holiday program that allowed employees to take extra days off, which was eventually cancelled in favor of other policies. The CTO reportedly told the curious employee that their focus should instead lie on continuing Meta’s apparent work on the “most exciting stuff on the planet.“
“I hope that what we do with our extra time is do even more and cooler stuff for the users who use our products every day,” Bosworth reportedly told employees, as per BI. “We got billions of people using our products every day. I get an extra hour. You know what I do with it? I put it into that.” Calling the question about Meta Days “dumb,” Andrew Bosworth also derided the employee for using their time to talk to their boss by asking about days off, continuing, “Ask your parents what they think of that as a career strategy.” While he did also apologize for being too hard on the question, his stance on the matter of employees inquiring about benefits was also quite clear.
While Meta’s success with AI remains to be seen, the company has made significant investments in the technology as well as its operating standards. The question of AI productivity gains at Meta, and its implications for employees, isn’t an unreasonable point of focus for the workforce, and neither is their desire to know more about whether the company has given any thought to expanding on employee benefits in recent months.
Meta Puts AI at the Front and Center of Its Operation
Meta isn’t the only company that has centered AI across its business offerings, but it has seen considerable controversy over its AI use. The company has conducted a significant number of layoffs this year, which not only drew attention due to its scale, but also over allegations that it used AI to conduct the cuts. The company’s use of AI for employee tracking also drew internal and external ire, following which it announced its decision to pause work on such endeavors.
From allegations of poaching employees for its Superintelligence AI team to reportedly “drafting” employees into teams without giving them a choice about the switch, according to a new report from the BBC, there is no shortage of stories with regard to how AI is changing how work is done within the organization, and the extent to which AI is being forcefully integrated into its platforms. It is also the latest firm to report an AI sandbox breach that allowed its creations to hack into an external company, which does suggest that employees are likely constantly responding, reacting, and coming to terms with AI.
With such continuous emphasis on AI, even setting aside Meta’s pursuit of productivity, it is hard not to imagine that the technology is at the forefront of the minds of its workers, and questions will emerge regarding when the challenges turn into perks. In June, the Meta CTO acknowledged this downturn, stating that in the present, morale at the company was not at its worst in the last 20 years, but it was probably “up there,” comparing it to the lows during the days of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which is a telling benchmark.
The Gap Between Employers and Employees Is Evident in Many Organizations Working with AI
Some business leaders might agree that asking about benefits, leave policies, and company-provided perks reflects negatively on an employee and their commitment to their job, but most likely also know that it is often the benefits and financial compensation that keep employees motivated to stay despite the challenges that await them. Low benefit awareness has employees turning to AI and social media to understand what support is available to them, but it is much preferable that they ask their management instead, relying on a trustworthy source rather than an online one.
It’s true that many Meta employees already enjoy generous benefits, and that this may not have been the ideal platform to link AI gains to holidays. The question asked by the employee may have been tongue-in-cheek as the Meta CTO suggested. Still, there is an evident disconnect in how organizations talk about AI and build interest around it internally. The cool and exciting work being done might profit the organization and its goals to bring AI to customers, but employees have also been promised that they will, someday in the distant future, benefit from it. This contradicts the rising incidents of layoffs, burnout, cognitive decline, and the overall threat to privacy and security being witnessed in real time.
Having difficult conversations with the workforce about the limitations of the tech, its impact on workers, and the overall organizational approach to AI cannot be conducted in a bubble of optimism. This is a large reason for the disconnect between leaders and the workforce, and the public and private reactions to the Meta CTO’s responses on questions about additional time off should leave us with a lot to think about with our current approach to technology.
Have your own reaction to Meta’s, or the tech world’s, approach to AI and productivity? Share them with us in the comments. Subscribe to The HR Digest for more insights on workplace trends, layoffs, and what to expect with the advent of AI.
