Offsetting its AI-focused investments, Meta announced its latest massive layoff round on Wednesday (US time), affecting the lives and careers of 8,000 employees across numerous departments and teams. Ever since the devastating job cuts hit about 10% of the Mark Zuckerberg-led tech giant’s workforce, various emotional posts addressing the role reversals involving the replacement of actual people to prioritise transitioning to artificial intelligence have gained a lot of attention on social media.
While some laid-off professionals chose to detail how many bridges they had to cross to earn a role at Meta, others decided to say goodbye in tear-jerking SNS notes. In the midst of the flurry of viral posts, another such “separation” confession came from a “high-performing” Creative Director who lost his job within months of being promoted at the social media giant.
Despite the heartbreaking turn his professional trajectory took due to the recently announced layoffs at Meta, Jonathan Cockett, who had been with the Big Tech firm for nearly eight years, chose to look back at his time at the company fondly, not begrudgingly.
Before embarking on his search for a new job, the Meta creative director, who was originally employed as a senior copywriter, in 2018, offered “hugs n high-fives” to all Meta employees–laid-off or not. His “Meta Badge Post” on LinkedIn immediately prompted heartwarming responses from those who knew Cockett during his time at Meta in Singapore and even others who had simply discovered him because of his now-viral post.
Meta ‘high performer’ laid off months after promotion
“Promoted in March. Laid-off in May,” Jonathan Cockett wrote on LinkedIn yesterday. Acknowledging his fall from being one of the “high performers” to a “statistic,” the creative director said, “So see you later Meta, after almost 8 years.”
He went on to confess, “Despite the gloom and doom around the pending AI apocalypse, I will always look back at my time at Meta fondly.” Reminiscing about all the “good brekkie and lunches, the work/life balance, the travel and offsites to NY/SF/LON, the opportunities to help small businesses across the world,” he put the focus more on the “many super talented, smart and nice people” he had the chance to work with all these years.
Naming a few of them in the LinkedIn post, he emphasised that his “attitude is gratitude” for them despite the “experience of being inside the machine of whatever this AI thing is.”
In his self-proclaimed “cliche” message, Cockett asserted that he couldn’t leave without celebrating the people he was privileged to have connected with at Meta “because it’s always about the people, isn’t it?”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees in a Wednesday memo that the layoff decision was much-needed because “success isn’t a given” in a cut-throat AI-driven tech world, as quoted by CNBC. In the same employee note, he hailed artificial intelligence as the “most consequential technology of our lifetimes,” adding, “The companies that lead the way will define the next generation.”
Cockett, on the other hand, reminded everyone through his self-proclaimed “cliche” message that “it’s always about the people,” and “maybe that’s what us humans have over AI. Making real relationships that make stuff happen. The collaboration, the shared ambition, the disagreements and pushes to make the work better.”
Sharing a photo of his checklist with “Do a badge post” and “Find a new job” goals, Cockett signed off, saying, “Anyway, that’s it for me. Meta was my Option A. Now I’m gonna kick the sh*t out of Option B.”
According to Cockett’s LinkedIn profile, he didn’t land his Meta job through the conventional “techie” path. Having served as a “Creative Director at Meta,” his educational qualifications showed that he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American Studies from Swansea University. Additionally, the currently Singapore-based professional got his postgraduate degree in Creative Advertising from Falmouth University.
Reactions to Meta’s creative director’s layoff confession
Jason Singh, Head of Partner Marketing at Meta Business AI & WhatsApp, called Cockett “one of the best” in the comments section.
Business marketer Faridzuan Faris, who also works at Meta, wrote, “Sigh Jonno, will miss you and all the creative office hours. You’re an anchor in a lot of my work streams (those briefs don’t get clear themselves), I am already jealous of Option B. Here’s to you my friend !! Take care.”
Mark R, a Brand Strategist at Meta, said, “It was great working with you Jonathan. I’m on the other side as well, it just happened a few months earlier. You’re gonna be just fine. There is life after Harvard.”
Maria Athena Bughao, Meta’s Media Lead APAC, chimed in with fond memories she shared with Cockett: “You are the absolute definition of a high performer, and this place won’t be the same without you. I am genuinely going to miss the imaginary knock to enter the imaginary office. Who else is going to keep me on my toes with all those questions? You’ve been an incredible colleague and friend over the years. Roti breakfast will never be the same. Cheers to kicking the absolute shitake mushrooms out of Option B. Please keep in touch and take care.”
CJ Goh, a program manager at Meta, added, “It was such a pleasure working with you, and it won’t be the same without you. This will leave a mark on our hearts for a long time. The next time I see a pizza I’ll make sure to do the walking thing, #iykyk all the best, Jonno!”
More about Meta layoffs
This week’s job cuts at Zuckerberg’s company come after a series of previous layoffs. Meta kicked off the new year in January by firing nearly 1,000 employees from its Reality Labs units. Then came the March layoffs, impacting hundreds more.
In the wake of this week’s surging AI casualties, Zuckerberg said in a memo to employees, “We’re transforming our company to make sure it will always be the best place for talented people to have the greatest impact.” As quoted by CNBC, he added, “People tell us that they appreciate the ability to take greater ownership and execute their vision with less bureaucracy and management to navigate.”
At the same time, he said that staffers “do not expect other companywide layoffs this year” amid the ongoing AI restructuring. This contradicts a previous Reuters report that warned of additional job cuts later this year. In the memo seen by CNBC, the Meta CEO also said that he wants “to acknowledge that we haven’t been as clear as we aspire to be in our communication, and that’s one area I want to make sure we improve.”
An internal company memo preceding Zuckerberg’s message indicated that the layoff plans set to commence on May 20 would affect one in every five employees at the company, according to Reuters. Written by Meta’s Chief People Officer, Janelle Gale, the memo also laid out plans to shift approximately 7,000 employees into new AI-focused roles.
“As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles into their new org structures,” she wrote. “We’re now at the stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams of pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership.”
As stated in company filings, Meta had 77,986 employees worldwide by the end of March.
Disclaimer: The content in this article is based on a viral social media discussion and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only.