Meta employee sacked for abusing free meal vouchers – The Irish Times

Meta fired about two dozen employees in Los Angeles for using their $25 meal credit to buy household items like acne pads, wine glasses and laundry detergent.

The layoffs came last week, just days before the $1.5 trillion social media company announced separately on Tuesday that it would begin restructuring certain teams at WhatsApp, Instagram and Reality Labs, its augmented and virtual reality arm. began.

Several people familiar with the decisions said the restructuring included cutting staff and relocating some employees, a sign that CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent efficiency push is still underway.

Like most Big Tech companies, Meta offers free food as a perk to employees at its sprawling headquarters in Silicon Valley. For example, employees in smaller offices without a cafeteria are offered Uber Eats or Grubhub credits for delivering groceries to the office.

Employees receive a daily allowance of $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch and $25 for dinner, with meal credits issued in $25 increments.

Those fired were accused of abusing the food credit system over a long period of time, a person familiar with the matter said. Some pooled their money, they said, while others had meals sent to their homes even though the credits were intended for the office.

Those who only occasionally violated company rules were reprimanded but not terminated, the person added.

In a post on the anonymous messaging platform Blind seen by the Financial Times, a former Meta employee wrote that he used $25 credit on items such as toothpaste and tea from the Rite Aid pharmacy, adding: “An Days when I haven’t eaten.” Like when my husband is cooking or I’m having dinner with friends, I figured I shouldn’t waste the dinner credit.”

The person who reported having a salary of about $400,000 at Meta and working “at night.” [and] Weekends,” they wrote, admitting the oversight when human resources investigated the practice before they were later unexpectedly fired. “It was almost surreal for this to happen,” the person wrote.

Blind verifies whether a user works for a specific company, but does not require them to reveal their identity.

Meta declined to comment on the layoffs.

However, the company said of the broader layoffs: “Today, some teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and site strategy.”

It added: “This includes moving some teams to other locations and reassigning some employees to other roles. “In situations such as this where a position is lost, we work hard to find other opportunities for the affected employees.”

Zuckerberg announced about 21,000 job cuts in two rounds of layoffs in 2022 and 2023, calling the latter a “year of efficiency.”

He also canceled low-priority projects to boost sluggish growth and allay investor concerns about his costly bet on the metaverse.

Wall Street welcomed the cuts along with a renewed focus on artificial intelligence. The company’s shares are currently trading at an all-time high of $577 each. – Copyright The Financial Times