Meta Reportedly Fired Employees Who Used Their Daily Food Delivery Stipend To Buy Groceries
An estimated 20 to 30 employees were fired after it was discovered that they were using their stipends for personal purchases.
Inside Creative House | Shutterstock Meta, the owner of both Facebook and Instagram and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have come under fire after it was reported that the company fired a handful of staff at its Los Angeles offices for misusing a meal perk that allowed them to get lunch while at work.
The tech giant, which is worth $1.2tn, seems to have taken an issue with its workers using their meal credit to buy personal items, even though it seemed like a minor infraction.
Meta reportedly fired employees who used their food stipend to buy groceries.
According to posts on the tech professional social media site, Blind, via Fortune, the firings reportedly took place last week, with an estimated 24 staffers being discharged from their positions in the Los Angeles offices at Meta. Writing on a post on Blind, one Meta staffer explained that employees were given a $25 GrubHub credit if they worked past 6 p.m. in offices that didn't have an on-site cafeteria.
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The fired staffers were apparently ordering meals when they weren't at the offices, swapping credits with other members of staff, or using the credits to buy personal items, like groceries and other household essentials.
One unnamed worker with a $400,000 salary reportedly said they had used their meal credits to buy household goods and groceries such as toothpaste and tea.
Another person familiar with the situation claimed that other workers were ordering items such as laundry detergent, wine glasses, and acne pads.
In the anonymous message, a staffer wrote: "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."
When approached as part of a human resources investigation into the practice, the worker admitted to the breach and was later fired. "It was almost surreal that this was happening," the person wrote, according to the Financial Times.
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The main criticism is that Meta's reasons for firing their employees seemed a bit bizarre considering how much the tech giant is worth.
Being able to get free food has been a consistent perk for employees at tech companies, and Meta isn't an exception. The company usually feeds its staff for free from canteens at its larger offices, including its Silicon Valley headquarters.
However, those at smaller sites are given daily credits to order food through delivery services such as Uber Eats and Grubhub. Daily allowances include $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and $25 for dinner.
If you're giving employees a stipend for lunch then it's technically their money, and if they want to use it to order groceries, which are becoming wildly expensive, they should be allowed to.
In fact, In 2023, 13.5% of households in the United States experienced food insecurity, which means they had difficulty providing enough food for all the members of their household, which was a much higher percentage compared to 2022.
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Meta is worth too much money to take such a great offense at the way that their employees spend money that has been given to them to use at their discretion.
Frankly, it falls under the same category as telling employees how they can use their sick days or paid time off because employees should be granted the freedom to use their benefits and perks in whichever way makes sense for them.
As it stands, many Meta employees aren't too impressed by the company in general. An internal Meta survey reported by Vox found that only 28% of employees responding to the survey gave a favorable response about their optimism for the company.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.