Half a dozen Meta executives have abandoned the company’s California headquarters so far this year, taking advantage of Mark Zuckerberg’s cowardly attitude toward remote work even as the company faces setbacks. threats on several fronts.
London is the top destination for departing Meta executives. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, Meta marketing director Alex Schultz and global affairs chairman Nick Clegg have already moved or plan to move to England this year.
Clegg – the former leader of the Liberal Democrat Party and British Deputy Prime Minister – reports directly to Zuckerberg and directs all of Meta’s dealings with governments around the world.
He wants to be closer to his parents and sees London as a better place to travel to continental Europe and Asia, the Financial Times reported. Meta faces tough antitrust challenges from regulators in the United States and Europe.
Mosseri, meanwhile, will help recruit Instagram staff while he lives temporarily in the UK, where tech talent is up to three times cheaper than in San Francisco, according to the Financial Times.
As Meta shares have plunged more than 50% so far this year amid slowing growth and competition from TikTok, Zuckerberg cracked the whip and urged managers to oust underperforming employees. But the Meta CEO still has a more liberal attitude toward remote work than most other Big Tech bosses.
Meta allows most employees to choose between fully remote or hybrid schedules — and Zuckerberg himself spends much of his time at his sprawling Hawaiian estate.
It’s not just Hawaii and the UK that are keeping Meta’s top brass away from headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
Javier Olivan, who recently replaced Sheryl Sandberg as COO of Meta, would split his time between California and his native Spain.
Product manager Naomi Gleit lives in New York, where Meta recently scaled back plans to expand its Hudson Yards and Astor Place offices, Bloomberg reported in July.
And the chief information security officer, Guy Rosen, has moved to his native Israel.
Meta did not respond to a request for comment on the moves.
As Meta executives roll out across the globe, other big tech companies have forced employees back into the office.
Apple currently requires virtually all employees to spend two days a week in the office, with plans to increase the requirement to three. Google also requires three days a week for many employees with more exceptions than Apple.
Amazon allows managers of individual business teams to decide how often their employees should come into the office.