Facebook. The new age technology company with its swanky offices, multitude of perks ranks quite high on the coolness quotient. It’s certainly one of the most-sought after tech companies for job seekers. However, a detailed story by The Verge has laid bare some ugly truths about working for Facebook.
The Verge story focuses on those people who work in the content moderation division of Facebook. Interestingly, these people aren’t directly employed by Facebook but by a “professional services vendor named Cognizant.” The report highlights how moderating content on Facebook is a deeply traumatic job and those working in this team suffer from anxiety, depression and even PTSD.
To add to their woes, their pay scales are comparatively low with those actually working for Facebook. On an average, according to The Verge, those working on content moderation earn $28,000 per year which is significantly less than the $240,000 that Facebook employees make on an average.
Facebook has about 15,000 content moderators across the world but The Verge report focuses on the centre in Arizona, Phoenix. The Verge reported, “Collectively, the employees described a workplace that is perpetually teetering on the brink of chaos. It is an environment where workers cope by telling dark jokes about committing suicide, then smoke weed during breaks to numb their emotions. It’s a place where employees can be fired for making just a few errors a week — and where those who remain live in fear of the former colleagues who return seeking vengeance.”

The report also mentions that an employee actually carried gun to work because he was not sure of his safety. There are numerous other issues that have been highlighted in the report.

Interestingly, Facebook has responded to the report in a post in its NewsRoom. The post titled, “Our commitment to our content reviewers” starts off by noting, “We know there are a lot of questions, misunderstandings and accusations around Facebook’s content review practices — including how we as a company care for and compensate the people behind this important work. We are committed to working with our partners to demand a high level of support for their employees; that’s our responsibility and we take it seriously.”

It further mentions that employees will be dissatisfied everywhere and anywhere (and that’s certainly true). “We know there are going to be incidents of employee dissatisfaction or hardship that call our commitment into question, which is why we’re taking the steps outlined below to continue to set and enforce the expectations we have for our partners.”

Facebook hasn’t actually denied most of the claims made in The Verge report but does say that a “lot needs to be done”.

Source: gadgetsnow.com