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

[echoangle]

> That included one unnamed worker on a $400,000 salary, who said they had used their meal credits to buy household goods and groceries such as toothpaste and tea.

I bet that was really worth it...

[bookaway]

It's official. There are some perks that are better in relatively "shithole" countries than in Elysium. In that universe, they put allowance money on your food card that is mostly accepted by certain restaurants. But there are a few supermarkets that accept it as well and you're completely free to use the card "wherever it's accepted".

This facebook example by contrast is hilarious bean counting partnering with moronic principles.

And where is the quote from the person that bought toothpaste at the request of a homeless person? I'd like to be in the HR office for that conversation.

[jvanderbot]

Why are people getting weird things like corporate food stamps when they are being paid 400,000 anyway?

[itronitron]

Maybe they have a unique set of dietary restrictions.

[TrackerFF]

My guess is that said person will land another $400k job in the industry.

[tyleo]

Seems like a bad exchange for both the employee and the company. TBH I feel Meta could have just ended the program for these folks rather than flat out firing them.

[CraigRo]

I had to watch a video about this issue 20 years ago. If the company can't trust you with small amounts of money, they can't trust you at all. I've seen people forfeit bonuses over smaller infractions- the lesson is don't steal small amounts of money

[dontdoxxme]

And this is a company people trust with their data, if the employees can’t be held to and meet higher moral standards they shouldn’t be there.

…maybe Zuck is exempt though? (https://www.15minutebusinessbooks.com/blog/2019/07/26/you-ca...)

[qgin]

Conditional money is goofy and essentially asking for problems.

Either give someone $20 or don’t. Then you don’t have to have an entire investigative department devoted to auditing whether an item has caloric value or not.

[s1artibartfast]

It is not money with strings attached. It is permission to buy food on the company account.

You wouldn't say the same thing about a company credit card.

[cchance]

agree 100%

[dgan]

I still remember.As clear as day: I bought raw eggs and raw meat with my French equivalent "tickets resto", as well as a couple of beers. I am a horrible person. Granted, I was only being paid 2300€/month at that time. Poor international companies providing me generous perks, and I.. I occupy the position of someone else who would be strictly abiding the rules. I should have been fired on the spot. If only the world were run by law abiding individuals like the ones running those generous companies

[FirmwareBurner]

There's your mistake. Abusing the rules for personal gain is a privilege reserved for the rich and powerful. The commoners get the rule book thrown at them if they get caught stealing from their lords.

[Rygian]

Meal money in France is credited (either as vouchers or as a separate credit card-like card) that can only be spent either in restaurants, or to spend in supermarkets. Supermarkets are only allowed to sell a limited list of goods that qualify as meal on that credit, the system is directly integrated in the cash register software.

[r00fus]

Yeah, agreed - Meta and other corporations are trying to do what is probably best supported by a government program so obviously they run into limits.

But trying anything like that here is "socialism".

[lopkeny12ko]

There is quite a lot of missing context in this story.

Meta provides a $25 meal delivery credit for employees in offices that do not serve catered dinner. It is valid only within a specific time window on weekdays, and meals can only be delivered to the office.

The offense here is that employees were ordering items other than food, or not actually working at the time of delivery. Like they would order food to the office, go in to grab it, and then leave.

Meta's behavior seems quite justified here.

[raincom]

How does this whole thing works? Can they use the voucher for anything? When I get a grubhub voucher, I can not use it to purchase tooth paste, toilet paper, etc.

[SanjayMehta]

I found this behaviour at Google fascinating:

> The company had also reportedly become more stringent on office supplies including staplers and tape, with staff having to borrow items from their reception desks instead.

I’m sure Google can compute the cost of a $400,000/- a year employee traipsing down the hallway to borrow a stapler. Pretty sure the stapler will pay for itself in a few trips.

[lores]

It happens often in very big companies. I remember multiple trips to different floors of a building to get the requisition form and authorization for a single notebook and pen that in the end cost the company ~$150. Someone has a KPI 'I cut down stationery costs by 12%', what the trade-off costs is someone else's problem entirely.

[nox101]

I knew someone who would take company products to lenient stores and "return" them for a refund >:( They worked in PR and had access to samples unquestioned

[SilverBirch]

We had this at my company (finance) during covid they had a generous Uber eats offer for food after work hours. Some employees (particularly new grads) realised they could pick the food up as they left or collect the food at the door as they left the office or redirect the order. remember at the time thinking this is stealing pennies when you’re paid incredibly well.

Well it wasn’t pennies. HR filtered to find those who claimed thousands and then managed to prove many of them were ordering on days they hadn’t even swiped into the office. Anyway, when HR finally did look into it dozens of people got fired from their $n00,000 job for stealing $5,000 worth of food. Good to fire them, you don’t want to hire people that stupid.

[keybrd-intrrpt]

Every single tech job I've had has had people like his.

I've seen people empty drink refrigerators into duffle bags before the weekend.

There was a guy who took dozens of travel-sized deodorants from the bathroom and kept them in his desk (and still didn't use them...)

There was someone who would pressure the cafeteria staff for 10 "to-go" meal containers.

All highly-paid engineers. Money doesn't buy class

[itronitron]

They could have boosted morale by offering short cooking classes onsite after work hours. Better food and better interactions among coworkers.

[piyuv]

Zuck betted on metaverse being a thing and lost billions on it, that money must come from somewhere

[Eumenes]

My startup just fired a remote employee who was using our coworking space stipend to pay for her friends art studio rent. When asked for receipts, they got super defensive and the rest is history. For every person taking advantage of their companies generous perks, there is someone hard working and ethical willing to do that job. FAFO.

[autonomousErwin]

Aren't they just finding a good reason to save 400K/year * how many they fire.

[sybercecurity]

Yes, I get the feeling that there were likely other reasons why they wanted the employee gone, but needed a good reason that wouldn't result in a legal complaint.

[mvdtnz]

I doubt they are going to this much effort to get rid of 0.04% of staff.

[jayantbhawal]

Description: Facebook and Instagram owner reportedly dismisses about 24 workers for abusing $25 meal credit system

[Joker_vD]

Is it really an abuse? Oh no, he used meal credits to buy toothpaste and tea instead of food, so... what? It really irks me that this level of pettiness comes from the corporation that itself uses every single tax "optimization" scheme on earth (and also probably invented a couple). Apparently, quod licet Metae non licet famulo. This really is just a small monetary enhancement to one's wage, not a "we ration out your approved caloric intake separately; do not mess with its accounting — or else" system (although it seems Meta really would like to treat it like that).

[farceSpherule]

It's called forced attrition folks. Same with "Returning to Office." They need to shed workers while avoiding the payment of severance.

"Abuse" of perks and expense reports are the first place you look. It's an easy, terminable offense.

[e40]

This is the exact reason here.

[dimgl]

It's $25... why not just suspend the program? Seems mostly harmless considering they're getting paid $400k a year...

[keybrd-intrrpt]

How can you keep trusting that person's judgement if this is what they do when given only $25 of responsibility?

[walthamstow]

Fire a couple dozen people on 400k without severance and you've saved 10m a year. Easy money.