Are people who complain about poor WLB at FB just inefficient or is it really that bad?

Baystate Health
wzGR12

Baystate Health

wzGR12
Sep 12, 2021 17 Comments

I keep seeing people complaining about WLB at FB and how they regularly put in 60+ hour weeks, but I'm wondering how much of that is inefficiency of these people? I've known people who sit at their desks for 10-12 hours a day and get nothing done because they're not good at their work, inefficient, or watching youtube videos half the time, and then say they're "working" 50-60 hour weeks and moan about it.

When you quantify your "work" hours, are you including all the time you're sitting there texting your friends and liking Instagram pictures?

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TOP 17 Comments
  • Facebook
    RecalGavin

    Go to company page Facebook

    RecalGavin
    I always thought FB is pretty chill.

    I show up around 1030-11, work for 2 hours at desk and have a few meetings.

    Take a 45 min lunch with team.

    Work/ meetings all afternoon.

    Hit the gym at 430.

    Grab dinner on the way out around 6. Don’t look at laptop until next day.

    E5 at 5 yoe but maybe I’d be E6 by now if I wasn’t such a bum lol.
    Sep 12, 2021 6
    • Baystate Health
      wzGR12

      Baystate Health

      wzGR12
      OP
      What do you think about the research oriented teams? Research is inherently slower-paced, but does that equate to better WLB? Does it have the byproduct of slower promos?
      Sep 12, 2021
    • Hehe, yeah, you have to give up on any idea you might have about "eng excellence" if you make the switch... However, measurable "impact" and "don't be a jerk" get emphasized a lot more. Also "move fast" means a lot of things are forgotten every PSC cycle, for better or worse.

      Doing the work well or sustainably is not as important as over-communicating and maintaining relationships. If you don't get this, I could see how you could burn yourself out at FB.

      (Still not sure what I like better myself, and I feel like over time FB and GOOG culture are converging anyway.)
      Sep 12, 2021
  • Have been at FB for quite a while now and currently E6. IMO at FB one needs to heavily prioritize the work they are doing and actively communicate and align the priorities with all stakeholders. If one does that, WLB will usually be great. Of course there are times when there is external deadlines (such as project for Thanksgiving or something for which the deadline is fixed) when you need to put more hours if running behind schedule
    As of me, I have had halves when I enjoyed to put 50-60 hours per week of work and then halves when I put <25 hours. And honestly both were equally rewarding. Only thing changed was better prioritization, communication, alignment and delegation.
    Sep 12, 2021 4
    • Baystate Health
      wzGR12

      Baystate Health

      wzGR12
      OP
      Thanks for the insight! What do you mean by "priorities" here? I assume you mean this in a work setting, but what are the priorities that one has to juggle and what should one prioritize?
      Sep 12, 2021
    • It's the priority of work items (or different projects) they are working on.
      Sep 12, 2021
  • Longer hours creep up on me with responsibilities and deadlines piling up, and IME the extra time doesn't correlate with better perf. Manager noticed, told me to just chill the f*** out and disconnect. Prioritize instead of doing it all. Manager was right.
    Sep 12, 2021 0
  • Facebook presents a few challenges that makes *some* people work crazy hours:

    1. Up or out to E5 - you need to get to e5 within a few years and, unfortunately, some people will never make it. This can be extremely stressful and they will find themselves working hard until managed out.

    2. Fb pays for performance- this may sound like a positive thing and its one of the reasons why people join fb (big bonuses and refreshers for good work, fast promos). For some it really is great but for for.others it can be insanely stressful. The whole performance system means that if you accomplish additional great things, you can get significantly more pay. Some people have e a hard time managing their time when they know that if they can accomplish major achievements - they can potentially double their pay.

    3. The people around you- since fb has the brand of paying top dollars and promoting quickly it attracts some of the most ambitious people that dont mind working a lot. This can be stressful for people around them that dont want to feel like they are falling behind (even if nothing will happen if they do).
    Sep 12, 2021 0
  • Facebook / Strategy
    ZappaLives

    Go to company page Facebook Strategy

    ZappaLives
    If people are working that many hours is the managers fault for allowing the inefficiency or not being clear about expectations or providing resources for the team. Hard stop.
    Sep 12, 2021 1
    • I think this is true for junior engs or people who are new to team/FB who cannot understand priorities. For others I would say it's not engs themselves to maintain their WLB and still make good impact
      Sep 12, 2021