No more free laundry for Meta workers

When Facebook came to notoriety in Silicon Valley in the mid to late 00s it had a cool reputation. The Academy Award-nominated ‘Social Media Network’ showed people lounging around in flip-flops as they came up with billion-dollar ideas and enjoyed unconventional work benefits.

Now named Meta, the company is changing some of its more unique benefits. No, flip-flops aren’t being ceremoniously burnt in tribute to corporate overlords. But employees will have to start washing their clothes at home.

That’s right, employees will no longer be able to drop off their laundry at work for free. On top of this, there are other perks that are being stripped away.

Meta takes some perks off the table

The company will also be delaying dinner service in the cafeteria from 6 pm to 6:30 pm. This means fewer staff will be able to enjoy the perk. The changes come as employees plan to return to the office later this month (28 March).

In a statement to Insider, a Meta spokesperson explained the decisions made: “As we return to the office, we’ve adjusted on-site services and amenities to better reflect the needs of our hybrid workforce.

“We believe people and teams will be increasingly distributed in the future, and we’re committed to building an experience that helps everyone be successful.”

With this in mind, it seems that Meta employees may have to start getting used to the crashing sounds of their clothes washers and dryers in their homes.

In terms of the dinner offering, spokesperson, Tracy Clayton, told Protocol: “Our culinary services are first and foremost an onsite perk for people while they’re working in the office … We want food to be served to meet that need while people might be working late.” This point seems to allude to staff simply taking dinner home from the cafeteria.

The New York Times revealed that the decision has split opinions with some Meta staff being angry at the change. They reportedly aired their grievances on an internal post and were met with senior executive Andrew Bosworth defending the changes on a thread underneath the post. Bosworth allegedly showed signs of irritation with a perceived sense of entitlement among the annoyed employees.

Conversely, speaking to The Times, two Meta food-service employees defended the decision to move dinner service: “I can honestly say when our peers are cramming three to ten to-go boxes full of steak to take them home, nobody cares about our culture.”

They added: “A decision was made to try and curb some of the abuse while eliminating six million to-go boxes.”

While food and clean clothes may no longer be on the house, Meta has increased staff wellness stipends from $700 to $3,000 as it has attempted to adapt to hybrid working practices. That should be enough to foot the bill of the dry cleaner.