We made it two weeks without talking about Google or Meta gutting staff! But, sadly, our reprieve has come to an end. This time, it’s not the layoffs the two tech giants have to worry about but the toll the cost-cutting measures have on employees and customers.
CNBC reports that the lack of staff at Meta affects businesses and influencers. For those who rely on Facebook and Instagram to advertise businesses or themselves, in the case of Instagram models, the lack of Meta employees means there’s no one around when something goes wrong.
If your account is hacked or spoofed, or if your photos are being used in a rampant romance scam, good luck resolving it quickly. Allegedly, the layoffs we’ve seen over the past year dramatically affected “client support, customer experience, and communities.”
In another story on CNBC, it looks like Google wants to save big money by taking away company-issued laptops, staplers, and other services. It’s bad enough that the tech company already left laid-off employees without promised benefits, but now Google is saddling non-engineering workers with Chromebooks rather than MacBooks.
Cell phones are no longer being paid for. Google’s print stations will be devoid of tape and staplers as “part of a cost-effectiveness initiative,” according to an internal facilities directive. Basic office supplies aren’t the only thing being gutted.
In a document seen by CNBC, yoga and muffins are next on the list to be scaled back, “Now that most of us are in 3 days a week, we’ve noticed our supply/demand ratios are a bit out of sync: We’ve baked too many muffins on a Monday, seen GBuses run with just one passenger, and offered yoga classes on a Friday afternoon when folks are more likely to be working from home.”
I 100% know what it’s like to work for a company desperately trying to save money during a recession. The late 2000s downturn saw a company I worked for cut 75% of the workforce, and we already had less than 100 people employed in total. Before that act, management had stopped paying for our cell phones and outsourced tech support to a company in another country.
Since then, the effects of extreme cost-cutting have been seen elsewhere. Like asking employees to supply their office necessities, such as laptops, desktops, pens, notepads, and even chairs.
Thankfully, these measures lightened up with some companies offering lease programs where employees get a monthly allowance for using their PCs and phones. However, we may be sliding into tight waistband time soon if even the big tech companies try to lean on overhead.
Shedding costs on small items is one thing, but when a company nixes essential staff that deals with customers on a day-to-day basis, we should all genuinely worry. A lean office can be tight but attainable for a prolonged future, but if the lack of assistance turns customers off, Meta is now digging its own grave with a gigantic coal mining blade.
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