Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has announced to employees that the era of free laundry services and early evening meals is over. The tech company told workers on an internal messaging system that free perks will either be reduced or altogether removed as the organization brings back some employers to office duties by March, the New York Times reported.
A third-party dry cleaning service will no longer be contracted to launder Meta’s employees’ laundry – or perhaps hired on a limited basis. And free meals will no longer be available at 6 pm but at 6:30 pm. This new meal arrangement will make it difficult for many workers to take free boxes of food home, and it will leave many who choose to wait without a transportation service, since the company’s shuttles leave by 6 pm.
Although not all Meta employees will be required to resume office duties on March 28, the cut-down lifestyle perks hitherto available to them will leave many of them disgruntled. Meta and some big tech organizations in Silicon Valley have kept some workers coming to the office by offering them on-site medical attention, sushi buffets, candy stores, and beanbag chairs.
Since Meta had been considering a hybrid workplace model since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and workers were required to work largely from home, the organization increased its employees’ wellness stipends from about $700 to $3,000 recently to appease workers who feel aggrieved with the elimination of some office perks.
“As we return to the office, we’ve adjusted on-site services and amenities to better reflect the needs of our hybrid work force,” a Meta spokesman stated. “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.”
Some employees ventured to voice their thoughts that the new changes will impact workers’ performance, but Meta’s chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth made it clear that every updated policy was for company good and employee satisfaction. Outgoing chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, also seemed to support the new changes and responded in a manner that made his position unambiguous.