As reported by The Guardian, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has reportedly terminated approximately 24 employees at its Los Angeles offices for allegedly misusing their $25 meal credits to purchase items such as toothpaste, laundry detergent, and wine glasses.
The tech giant, valued at $1.5 trillion and also the owner of the messaging platform WhatsApp, is said to have ousted the workers following an investigation that uncovered instances of staff exploiting the system, including ordering food for home when not present in the office.
One employee, who chose to remain anonymous and was earning a $400,000 salary, confessed to using their meal credits to buy household items and groceries such as toothpaste and tea. The employee stated on the anonymous messaging platform Blind: “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 individual admitted the violation during a human resources inquiry and was subsequently dismissed. According to the Financial Times, which first reported the story, the employee wrote, “It was almost surreal that this was happening.”
Some employees were also found to have used the credits to purchase other household items, including acne pads.
While employees who infrequently breached the rules received reprimands, they were able to retain their positions, as reported by the newspaper.
Free meals have long been a coveted perk at major tech firms. Meta, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, typically provides complimentary meals to its staff at larger offices, including its expansive Silicon Valley headquarters. However, employees at smaller locations receive daily credits to order food through delivery services like UberEats and Grubhub, with allowances of $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and $25 for dinner.
In 2022, the company faced internal backlash after deciding to delay its daily free dinner service at its Silicon Valley campus by half an hour, as part of broader cost-cutting measures. This change made it more challenging for employees to access the free food and bring leftovers home.
Other prominent tech companies have also begun to scale back on employee perks. Google reduced fitness classes and the frequency of laptop replacements last year. The company also reportedly tightened controls on office supplies, requiring staff to borrow items from reception desks.
Meta's decision to terminate employees accused of misusing their perks coincided with the launch of a new restructuring plan, involving layoffs and staff relocations from its WhatsApp and Instagram divisions and its augmented reality arm, Reality Labs. This move follows substantial job cuts, with Zuckerberg initiating 21,000 redundancies in 2022 and 2023. Meta had approximately 70,799 employees as of June this year.
Comments