Meta fires staff for buying toothpaste, not lunch

Workers at Meta have reportedly been sacked for abusing the tech firm's meal voucher system, such as using it to buy toothpaste and washing powder.

Other breaches of the policy included sharing the vouchers with others or going over budget, according to people who said they work at Meta.

There are differing accounts over how much warning, if any, the owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp gave the workers before firing them.

Separately, the company has reportedly cut jobs across the business. Meta has been contacted for comment.

Meta staff are given $25 (£19) for lunch, $20 for breakfast, and $25 for dinner in vouchers which are meant to be used for ordering food from Grubhub, the US name for takeaway website Just Eat.

Posts on anonymous work social message board Blind appear to confirm elements of the story, originally reported by the Financial Times.

One user wrote that more than 30 people were fired last week because they used the credits for "non-food items, shared credits with people, or went above budget".

Examples of the non-food items bought included toothpaste, toothbrushes and wine glasses.

"They were given a warning to stop which most of them did, but were still fired three months later even after stopping," the user said.

Some repeated the claim the staff were warned, though other users wrote that there were no warnings.

Separately, the company has also reportedly made job cuts at WhatsApp, Instagram and Reality Labs, its virtual reality business responsible for the Oculus headset. These cuts are not related to the issues surrounding the voucher system.

Jane Manchun Wong, a former security engineer at Meta, said on Wednesday that she had lost her job as part of these wider layoffs.

"I’m still trying to process this but I’m informed that my role at Meta has been impacted," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Ms Wong was hired just over a year ago as a software engineer after making 2022's Forbes 30 under 30 list.

The layoffs were first reported by Verge, with a spokesperson telling the tech publication: "A few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy.

“This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles. In situations like this when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees."