In the months leading up to Meta’s decision Wednesday to lay off 11,000 employees, or about 13 percent of its workforce, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other top generals repeatedly made clear that at least some of the company’s problems company were related to the personal failings of its employees. “Realistically, there are probably a lot of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Zuckerberg told his own employees at a company meeting in June.

Next month, Head of engineering and remote presence of MetaMaher Saba told managers to identify and remove those who were not doing their part.

“If a direct report is stagnating or underperforming, that’s not what we need; they are failing this company,” Saba said.

In both cases, what was left unsaid was that much of…