'In-person is better': Mark Zuckerberg hints at end of work from home for Facebook employees

Meta layoffs have impacted over 20,000 of its employees. Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a memo to all employees announcing the layoffs and highlighting the future plans for the company. In the memo, Zuckerberg also highlighted the findings of a new internal study at the social media network. Facebook-founder revealed that engineers that worked in person performed better. 

Meta conducted an early analysis of performance data that suggest in-person time helps build relationships and get more done. The analysis shows that engineers who either joined Meta in person and then transferred to remote or remained in-person performed better on average than people who joined remotely.

Additionally, Zuckerberg claimed that engineers who are in the earlier phase of their career perform better on average when they work in person with teammates at least three days a week.

Meta's study hypothesizes that it is still easier to build trust in-person and that those relationships help employees work more effectively. As part of their Year of Efficiency, Meta is focusing on understanding this further and finding ways to make sure people build the necessary connections to work effectively. In the meantime, employees are encouraged to find more opportunities to work with their colleagues in person.

End of Work-from-home? 

This raises the question: will Meta eventually end its work-from-home policy? While it is too early to say for certain, it seems that the company is taking steps to understand the benefits of in-person collaboration and may make changes accordingly.

Meta Layoffs

Meta laid off an additional 10,000 employees earlier this week. The first round of layoffs happened in the month of November last year. The company has decided to further 'streamline' and become more 'efficient' in its operations, laying off thousands in the process. The Facebook parent company also removed almost 5,000 job openings. 

Also read: Paid employees to do 'fake work': Laid off Facebook worker accuses Meta of not having enough work for staff