Meta fires staff for buying toothpaste, not lunch
Reports indicate that employees at Meta have been terminated for misusing the company’s meal voucher system, including purchasing items like toothpaste and laundry detergent.
Other violations of the policy involved sharing vouchers with others or exceeding budget limits, according to sources familiar with the situation.
There are conflicting reports regarding how much warning, if any, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp provided before dismissing these employees.
In a separate development, the company has allegedly implemented job cuts throughout its operations. Meta has been approached for a comment on these issues.
Employees at Meta receive vouchers worth $25 (£19) for lunch, $20 for breakfast, and $25 for dinner, intended for ordering food through Grubhub, which is the U.S. equivalent of the Just Eat takeaway service.
Posts on the anonymous workplace messaging board Blind appear to corroborate aspects of the story initially reported by the Financial Times. One user mentioned that over 30 individuals were fired last week for using their meal credits for “non-food items, sharing credits with others, or exceeding the budget.”
Examples of the non-food items bought included toothpaste, toothbrushes and wine glasses.
“They were given a warning to stop which most of them did, but were still fired three months later even after stopping,” the user said.
Some repeated the claim the staff were warned, though other users wrote that there were no warnings.
Separately, the company has also reportedly made job cuts at WhatsApp, Instagram and Reality Labs, its virtual reality business responsible for the Oculus headset. These cuts are not related to the issues surrounding the voucher system.
Jane Manchun Wong, a former security engineer at Meta, said on Wednesday that she had lost her job as part of these wider layoffs.
“I’m still trying to process this but I’m informed that my role at Meta has been impacted,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Ms Wong was hired just over a year ago as a software engineer after making 2022’s Forbes 30 under 30 list.
The layoffs were first reported by Verge, with a spokesperson telling the tech publication: “A few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy.
“This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles. In situations like this when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees.”
