Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has reportedly fired around two dozen employees at its Los Angeles office. The reason? Misusing their daily meal credits for a little more than just lunch.
Here’s what happened!
For those unfamiliar with Silicon Valley’s perks culture, tech giants like Meta are known for spoiling their employees with free meals, daily credits, and fancy perks. At Meta’s smaller offices, rather than canteen dining, employees receive daily credits to grab breakfast, lunch, and dinner from local eateries.
The employees at Meta get daily $25 meal credits, which they can spend on food delivery through services like UberEats and Grubhub. It is a quick, convenient way for staff to fuel up during the workday. But apparently, some employees took advantage of it and started spending those credits beyond food, buying toothpaste, laundry detergent, and even wine glasses instead.
One employee, who reportedly had an impressive $400,000 salary, explained on the anonymous messaging app Blind that they felt the credits shouldn’t go to waste if they weren’t dining at the office. “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,” they shared.
During an HR investigation, it was uncovered that the meal credit was being ‘abused’. The result? The HRs along with about 23 other employees were sacked.
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