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

100% agree on your first point.

I would caution your second point. A few years ago, news articles pointed out Meta had to pay people more compared to other similar companies due to people not wanting to work there. Sadly Google search isn't showing me those older articles.

A few websites are saying Meta's average median pay is 379k (Zuckerberg takes a $1 so he isn't driving that number) vs Google at $315k vs Microsoft $193k vs Nvidia 267k. That's a lot of difference. So running a company like a pedant has a real dollar difference, especially for workers who can demand it. Meta lost a lot of money on the Metaverse and they are spending to catch up AI, meaning they already have to be competitive for employees compared to other companies. Add in the perks are a trap to get fired, and your costs just keep going up. Perks are typically offered in lieu of higher costs and in this case incentive people to work longer in an office. Now they leave for food or go home and you have lost those benefits.

Definitely seems like they want the layoff from my position in the industry.

The tech megagiants are massively reallocating their budgets from "paying people for new product development" to datacenter build-outs, under the belief that AI will fundamentally restructure all knowledge work into property you can own and extract rent from.

Unfortunately the industry is completely non union and a good chunk of employees are on H1B or TN visas where they will get deported if they get fired. That really puts a damper on wanting to rock the boat.

Expect things to get less stable and shittier over time as this trend continues.

Oh, it's terrible. The entire policy is Bananas. And you can't pool funds? So if it is 3 people, $75 worth of pizza will feed them for a long time. But they got fired for pooling them.

How much time were the Accountants spending verifying this? Or did workers just receive vouchers? If a handful of people were abusing it, how did they notice? No refunds on vouchers, so you'd assume an amount of late nights and then refill as needed. It was already budgeted, so it's a sunk cost.

Also in some places I've worked, $25 after the delivery costs isn't that much food either. I'd be ignoring that perk forever if I still worked there, too much red tape.

Really depends on how valuable all of the staff are. I too have seen theft of small and large offices I've worked in. Personally didn't buy pens until I started working from home. I also did the accounting and budgeting for office supplies and products from the product line (beer), which sometimes had free samples taken from it. Executives loved to grab samples daily. We ensured this was added to employees paychecks as a perk for tax purposes, but not down to the individual beer. We also had talks with anyone who took over their fair share.

The cost always came down to pennies per person. Their value as a worker was typically more valuable then micromanaging them and creating an environment where they were punished. Average employee made more for the company daily then what they took home. If they knew it was fine within some limits (which most did and I would argue these Meta workers were within given their pay/value of the company), it's actually better to just ignore it.

Now the remaining employees and future employees know any mistake could cost them their job, with no major warning, just 2 strikes and your out.

When you take this personally ("violating your trust"), you end up creating a shitty place to work to soothe your ego.

Where’s the scam? If the company is providing a $25 credit as a benefit, then they should just give the employees $25. Why should Meta get a say in how it’s spent?

people violating your trust?

Implying any of us are equivalent to a $1.5 trillion social media monopoly that has more political and social power than any other organization on the planet. Sure Jan, any one of us is exactly like that.

Shut the fuck up lmaooooo they already expect the employees to spend $25 per day, meal or not.

There’s no maliciousness from employees at that point, only real people trying to meet their needs so that they can keep working. FOR YOU!

Corps keep squeezing labor more and more, time to squeeze back a piddling little bit

Have you worked for a corpo?

"Trust" lol

I would just give them the voucher if they are in the office and let them decide what to do with it.

These grifters get super cagey when you point basic math... Capitalism for me, but no for thee🤡

Don't get me wrong purely from "regulatory" perspetive this wagie done fucked up...

But sufficient slaving experience, I can tell you that this reason is a pretext lol

It seems bootlickers can't tell the difference and appreciate the nuance of what happened here. No wonder we got this shiti "employment experience" peasants are their own worst enemies.

But honestly why is that bad? I’m vegan and I work at a bakery. When we get to eat products that I don’t eat, I pass my portion to my coworkers, because obviously. When we made alcohol out of our leftover bread, my observant Muslim coworkers gave us their bottles.

The employees are happier and we actually talk about and get to know the products more (which is the whole point)

Sounds like that one evil corp homer worked for.

I hear the same doesn't go for contractors

It's for food.

It's the rules for receiving the funds. Don't like it, don't accept the funds.

"I have no idea what income taxes are because I've never worked in my life" is what I see here.

I'll do it - only gotta fake it for a year and then I can buy a house!

Have you seen fast food prices recently? $25 is a meal deal with one additional burger/taco because the meal is too small to feed anyone older than a toddler.

Not saying that fast food is the cheapest option anymore, but it is a common option.

Exactly. I lost my job during COVID and fortunately the unemployment office found that my "contract position" was actually an illegal "full-time position" and I qualified for benefits. But the benefits were a fraction of my regular salary, even with the increased COVID-era unemployment benefits. It was enough to live on (I was already frugal), but I was certainly motivated to find new work.

I was "fired" because "my job had been eliminated." Had I been fired for misconduct, I wouldn't have gotten any unemployment benefits.

Meta is doing it this way to cut workforce without having to pay severance or unemployment, not because they really care about that $25.

My state would pay them $4400/m for 6 months, assuming they meet the minimum requirements of applying to jobs. And, since it’s a rough market out there, 6 months isn’t really unreasonable.

They can argue against the employer’s claim and prove they weren’t fired for cause. My former employer lied to unemployment and and it worked in my favor. Either way they can appeal a decision and should start consulting attorneys immediately.

Only if they fight it. Which they probably won’t.

I got 1100/week, for up to 6 months 🤷