Facebook Struggles to Rebuild Employee Trust

Treating employees well can be part of a recruiting strategy. This approach assumes that if
you want the best people, it's easiest to get them if they would love to work for you. Evidence
that Facebook pursues such a policy comes from its recurring position on the Glassdoor job-
review site's list of the best places to work.

When people compile and read about such lists, they often are thinking of fancy perks, like
on-site gyms and free meals. Indeed, these are part of the experience of working at
Facebook's facility in Menlo Park, California. But more important, according Janelle Gale,
the vice president of human resources, is that people do "meaningful work in areas that
matter to Facebook, and areas that matter to them." The company's mission. "connecting the
world." appeals to employees and gives them a sense of purpose. Another consideration is
relationships between employees and their managers. The company conducts an employee
satisfaction survey, which asks employees to rate their managers. so it can determine the
qualities associated with effective managers. (Answer: They support. rather than dic-late
orders to. employees.)

The company seeks to maintain a culture in which talented, hardworking people thrive. The
layout of the offices provides opportunities for employees to connect and work on ideas.
Employees describe this situation as an opportunity to learn and to see interesting projects.
(Due to COVID-19, Facebook is allowing employees to work at home until July 2021.)
Consistent with the company's mission, CEO Mark Zuckerberg communicates openly about
the company with its employees, including in question-and-answer sessions once a week.
Lori Goler, vice president of people, says this kind of behavior is intentional, to align with the
mission: as Facebook users build communities. so employees build community within the
company.

All of this has been challenged recently, following revelations of an organization called
Cambridge Analytica using quizzes on Facebook to get data about millions of users and their
networks, then improperly making the data available for other purposes. This news comes on
top of reports that others who misrepresented themselves published misinformation related to
the 2016 presidential election. These stories have damaged Facebook's reputation, caused
many users to avoid the site, and reportedly hurt employee morale. Until this occurred,
Facebook had become an essential means of staying connected. Now the company must
figure out how to resell its vision to its users and its current and future employees.

Questions
1. What socially responsible practices can you identify at Facebook, as described here?
Where are some areas in which improvement could help its reputation with employees?

2. What are two recruiting methods that Facebook could use that would be consistent with its
mission and its efforts to be a great place to work?