Meta fires staffers for using $25 meal credits on household goods

2 weeks ago 5

In one post on anonymous messaging platform Blind, seen by the Financial Times, one former Meta staffer wrote they had used $25 credits on items such as toothpaste and tea from the pharmacy Rite Aid, adding: “On days where I would not be eating at the office, like if my husband was cooking or if I was grabbing dinner with friends, I figured I ought not to waste the dinner credit.”

The person, who indicated they had a salary of about $400,000 at Meta and worked “nights [and] weekends,” wrote that they had admitted to the oversight when human resources investigated the practice, before later being unexpectedly fired. “It was almost surreal that this was happening,” the person wrote.

Blind verifies that a user works for a particular company but does not require them to disclose their identity.

Meta declined to comment on the firings.

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

It added: “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.”

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

He also canceled low-priority projects in an attempt to boost sluggish growth and alleviate investor concern over his costly bet on the metaverse.

Wall Street has welcomed the cuts together with a renewed focus on artificial intelligence. The company’s shares are now trading around all-time highs of $577 each.

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