Meta fires staff for using free meal vouchers to buy household goods

There are conflicting reports on how much notice, if any, the owner of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp provided before terminating the employees. Separately, Meta has reportedly cut jobs across its business. The company has been contacted for comment.

Meta staff receive meal vouchers worth $25 for lunch, $20 for breakfast, and $25 for dinner, intended to be used for ordering food via Grubhub, the US equivalent of Just Eat.

Posts on the anonymous work social platform Blind seem to corroborate elements of the story, originally reported by the Financial Times.

One user claimed that more than 30 employees were dismissed last week for using the credits for “non-food items, sharing credits with others, or exceeding the budget.”

Examples of non-food items bought included toothpaste, toothbrushes, and wine glasses. Some employees were also found to have used their meal credits to purchase other household items, such as acne pads. According to the report, those who had only occasionally breached the rules were reprimanded but allowed to keep their jobs.

“They were warned to stop, and most did, but they were still fired three months later, even after ceasing the misuse,” the user wrote.

While some users echoed the claim that warnings were issued, others stated there were none.

Meta has also reportedly made job cuts within WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs, its virtual reality division responsible for the Oculus headset.

Jane Manchun Wong, a former security engineer at Meta, announced on Wednesday that she had been laid off as part of the broader redundancies. “I’m still trying to process this, but I’ve been informed that my role at Meta has been impacted,” she posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Wong, who was hired just over a year ago as a software engineer, had made Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in 2022.

The layoffs were first reported by The Verge, with a Meta spokesperson telling the tech publication: “A few teams at Meta are making adjustments to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy.”

“This includes relocating some teams and reassigning employees to different roles. In cases where a role is eliminated, we make every effort to find alternative opportunities for affected employees.”

Free meals have long been one of the benefits of working at large tech companies.

Meta, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, typically provides free food to employees at its larger offices, including its expansive Silicon Valley headquarters, where staff are catered for by on-site canteens.

(With Inputs from BBC, The Guardian)