How is Facebook WLB? How long do people work each day?

Google
befired

Go to company page Google

befired
Mar 24, 2021 146 Comments

Hey I am TLM at google
Planning to join Facebook
Main reason is comp increase (40% increase) and more interesting project
But I heard lots of complaints about bad culture, bad wlb, can’t take vacation and so on

For people who moved from G to FB, especially senior IC or EM, can you share your story a little bit?

1. Is it worth to jump?
2. Does Facebook require working over the weekend and in the evening?
3. Is it safe to take vacation?
4. Compared to Amazon, or Apple, which one is worst?
5. Does Facebook have any no meetings days?
6. How many PTO for people who work there for 3+ years?

Thanks a lot

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TOP 146 Comments
  • Things are very bad here. Don’t join. If comp is important, go to places like Pinterest, Airbnb or Snap.
    Mar 24, 2021 25
  • Yes

    You should not be working nights and weekends, and hr will take it very seriously if your manager puts any pressure on you to do that

    It is safe to take vacation

    Amazon is the worst

    Yes, no meetings on Wednesdays (you can work from home then, when you're actually not remote like now). Or you can just work from home any day you like if you have nothing important in person

    21 days PTO for everybody, Every 5 years you get an extra 30 day sabbatical
    Mar 24, 2021 7
    • eBay
      manorama1

      Go to company page eBay

      manorama1
      @facebook - when they consider sabbatical time and not pto time for psc reviews , what does it mean? Do they do psc review based on daily activities or how is psc tied or untied to holidays ?
      Mar 31, 2021
    • I’m not sure since I haven’t been to calibrations (not a manager). I assume they expect a certain amount of impact at baseline for a given level. If you’re gone for 1/6th of the half due to sabbatical, then they probably expect 5/6th as much impact.
      Mar 31, 2021
  • Team dependent, but on average WLB at FB is significant worse than Google... but of course that’s partially why they pay more.

    FB’s culture is one where they actively reward people who want to work as much as possible, whereas at Google, the amount of time spent working is taken into account as to whether your performance is sustainable or not ... much healthier approach IMO.

    The only reason I would move from Google to Facebook is for an uplevel... so I could interview at Google at that higher level in a year.

    Trust me that the extra 40% in comp won’t really be worth it. Most will be taken in taxes, and FB stock growth has lagged Googles in the past 6 months so it’s possible your overall TC will be the same at the end of the day
    Mar 25, 2021 17
  • The whole WLB thing is blown out of proportions for FB. WLB for me has been great, better than Microsoft, I joined last year.
    Mar 24, 2021 6
  • FB is very big. Plz don't generalize.
    I'm sure there are many teams with bad WLB, but my team is great. The trick is to carefully choose a good team, and you have 2 or 3 months to do that at bootcamp.

    For the teams that I was interested in, I attended a couple of weekly meeting. I paid attention to:
    + The way manager talked to the team
    + On call responsibilities
    + How do people update status? do they have daily stand up
    + ....

    I can say that my team is great. WLB is the best among my last 6 companies.

    To answer your questions (only apply to me):
    2) I never work in the weekend. After 4pm is the time for my kids. If anybody ping me after that time, I would reply after 9pm when my kids are in bed. I do work in the evening, but nobody replies my chat messages. I work 5 - 6 hours a day in total because wfh with kids is very hard.
    4) Amazon is also very big, don't generalize. I have a L6 friend who works 12 hours a day, and a L5 who is a day trader.
    5) Wednesday is no-meeting day. Always use it for dental appointment etc
    6) After 5 years, you have an extra 1 month PTO. Not sure about 3 years though.
    Mar 25, 2021 1