Meta CTO scoffs at the idea of more time off for employees; CEO of Google DeepMind announces he’s stepping away

Greetings, comms pros! Let’s take a look at a few news stories from the last week and see what we can learn from them.

1. Meta CTO calls employee question about time off “very dumb”

Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth made headlines after making a brusque response to an employee who asked if the company’s AI achievements could lead to more “Meta Days” in which the company gives employees time off. According to a report by Business Insider, Bosworth said the question was “very dumb,” and said that employees should use that time to instead work more.

“I hope that what we do with our extra time is do even more and cooler stuff for the users who use our products every day,” Bosworth said. “We got billions of people using our products every day. I get an extra hour—you know what I do with that? I put it into that.”

He also pressed the employee further, asking whether or not their parents would support the idea of more time off. It’s worth noting that the company’s Meta Days were instituted as a way of preventing burnout after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Go to your parents and ask them, ‘Hey, like every time I get a chance to talk to my boss, [I ask him] if I can have more days off,’’ Bosworth said. “Ask your parents what they think of that as a career strategy.”

When looking at Bosworth’s answer and tone, internal communicators need to remember that how leaders communicate sets the culture for employees, and quickly. Instead of responding to a legitimate question about the company’s AI goals, Bosworth turned his answer into an attack on the employee’s line of thinking. Leaders can communicate about ambition on the job without making an employee feel small — if a Q&A with a leader turns combative as this one appeared to, employees are going to ask fewer questions and communicators won’t have accurate insights to share with leaders to ensure that their messaging works. On top of all of that, people just don’t want to work for a boss that’s going to demean them, and that’s a culture killer.

2. Google DeepMind chief announces step back to handle “big picture” issues at company

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis announced that he’s leaving his role as the organization’s chief in a joint memo to employees with Google CEO Sundar Pichai. In the note, he stated that it was the “right time” for him to move into a new role as the chair of Google DeepMind and chief scientist at Alphabet.

We have arrived at a pivotal moment in human history. I’ve been working towards AGI my whole life and now, like many of you, I feel it is close at hand. It’s critical that we collectively get the next steps right to ensure this all goes well for humanity and we usher in an incredible new age of discovery and wonder.

With this backdrop, I’ve decided that now is the right time for me to hand over my day-to-day operational responsibilities at GDM, so that I have the time and space to focus on the big picture and help influence what is to come to the best of my ability.

Hassabis’ use of language when discussing his role transition is notable from a comms perspective. By saying AGI (artificial general intelligence, in which AI can think and solve problems on its own) is “close at hand” and calling this a “pivotal moment in human history,” he’s signaling to Google DeepMind’s employees that the company’s work has reached a point where he thinks his time is better spent on the big ticket safety and scientific questions AGI brings with it. For employees, the communication needed during a major leadership change should be grounded in the details of what comes next. They need to know who is calling the shots, and in Google DeepMind’s case, how AGI is going to affect the work.

3. Study: AI is impacting the way we write at work

 A recent report from Omni Calculator found that generative AI is having major effects on the way employees communicate with one another through writing on the job. The study of over 900 workers found that 65% of employees use AI to help them communicate at work at least once a week, and nearly half (47%) of employees use AI at work to help them write emails. The study also dove into the perception of AI messaging at work — 30% of employees feel an employee who uses AI to write a message “didn’t care enough to write it themselves,” and 51% stated that they’d rather have a slightly messier but more human message show up in their inbox rather than an overly polished one augmented with AI.

One can interpret from the data that employees can tell the difference between AI as a writing tool and AI as a replacement for effort in written communication. A perfect, polished message built with the help of AI might sound great in a meeting, but in practice, employees want a human touch in their communication that they can relate to. If you’re an internal comms pro using AI, you need to remember that AI is a great helper, but when it’s wearing down the person behind the message’s voice, it’s more of a hindrance than a help. Employees can tell the difference between cleaning up a message and outsourcing it to technology entirely.

4. How about some good news?

• The Toronto Zoo announced the birth of a baby pygmy hippo calf.

• Scientists sent a software update to Voyager 2 — billions of miles away in space — to buy it another year of functionality.

• Engineers in Japan have developed “eco-fireworks,” which aim to have a lessened environmental impact after exploding.

• Ragan Training is an excellent place for communications professionals to find inspiration and valuable resources.

• You should be rewarded for your work. Find out how to earn an award here!

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.