A lot of reporting is done about the impacts of mass layoffs on those who are directly affected by losing their jobs.

But not a lot is said about those who are left behind. Those who lose friends and colleagues, and now often get saddled with two or three times as much work to fill the voids left behind.

The impacts are starting to show themselves at company like Meta, which was hit by mass layoffs of around 21,000 employees.

In online chat groups for Meta employees, the chatter has turned to exhaustion and hopelessness, with one employee writing, “Raise your hand if you know who is getting fired? Fire emoji if you think it’s a dumpster fire.”

While CEO Mark Zuckerberg is trying to sell it as a “year of efficiency,” it doesn’t feel as positive and forward-thinking to those in the trenches.

Eric Sumner, a global director of HR at DeleteMe, was laid off from Facebook in November. Sumner explains, “So many of the employees feel like they’re in limbo right now. They’re saying it’s ‘Hunger Games’ meets ‘Lord of the Flies’ where everyone is trying to prove their worth to management.”

And the absence of top execs from Meta’s headquarters is making things worse. Zuckerberg is on parental leave after the birth of his third child, and other execs are MIA from in-person meetings.

In a time when they need leadership and hope more than ever, Meta is leaving them holding air and uncertainty.

Once, Meta was considered one of the most desirable places to work in the tech industry (and anywhere). Now, with waning benefits and flourishing uncertainty, it’s becoming more dystopian by the day.