Meta’s motivation mantra for employees: Happy hours, snacks, and more – Times of India

Amid its year of efficiency, Meta is resuming the perks for employees’ morale it used to offer after the recent rounds of layoffs to boost their morale. Employees coming to the office will get perks like happy hour, corporate swag, snacks, laundry services, and even haircuts.
According to Bloomberg, the tech giant’s Menlo Park, California headquarters, which spans a 250-acre campus with over 30 buildings and houses thousands of employees, is now rehiring dozens of the 21,000 previously laid-off workers. And employees are required to report to the office at least three days a week and to keep them happy at the office, pre-pandemic benefits are resuming.
On-site restaurants, which had been serving food until late into the evening during the COVID pandemic, have now reverted back to their normal operating hours, with food vendors resuming their operations. The staff has begun participating in standing Thursday happy hours again, displaying better attitudes.
According to a spokesperson from Meta, social events like dinner and happy hour, as well as company swag, have not disappeared completely due to the pandemic and budget constraints but were rather adjusted to the situation. As Meta’s workforce returns, other amenities, such as stocked snack bars, are also being reintroduced, as per the spokesperson.
Recently, the stocked fridges at Meta’s headquarters have been running out of fruit-flavoured La Croix sparkling water, which means the employees are present and enjoying the benefits of office perks. In addition, the snack bars have been running low on supplies; however, they are now being refilled. This is a change from the previously bare concession stands that were a common sight in Meta’s gloomy offices during the pandemic and at the start of this year, after the company laid off over 11,000 employees following its acquisition by Mark Zuckerberg.
Meta laid off around 13% of its workforce in November last year as Zuckerberg spearheaded the company into its year of efficiency, leading to plummeting morale and delayed budget approvals. Then again, Facebook cut another 10,000, with 21,000 jobs lost in total.
Meta has rehired some laid-off employees, mostly for engineering and technical positions. Experienced former engineers with a strong performance history are the most likely to be rehired, taking on less seniority roles and lower pay.
While perks such as laundry services and on-site food vendors are back, Bloomberg reports they are not as attractive as they used to be. Laundry services are no longer free, and there is a fee that employees have to pay, while some have stated that the quality of food has decreased.