Mehul Reuben DasDec 06, 2022 16:08:29 IST
A few weeks ago, Meta terminated a large number of people across its workforce from all over the world. All in all, about 13 per cent or roughly 11,000 people were terminated as the company was preparing itself for some tough times ahead. While terminating, the social-media-turned-tech giant had promised a handsome severance package to all the employees it had terminated. However, a group of ex-Meta employees are now reporting that they are not getting the severance they were promised.
Meta employees were told that they will receive 16 weeks of base pay, plus two additional weeks for every year with the company, and 6 months of health insurance for family members. However, some employees are getting only 8 weeks of basic pay and 3 months of health insurance. Image Credit: AFP
When they were being terminated, Meta employees were told that they will receive 16 weeks of base pay, plus two additional weeks for every year with the company. Zuckerberg also said that health insurance for those employees and their families will continue for six months.
A group of Meta workers who joined the company via a corporate training program have revealed that they are receiving inferior severance packages as compared to other workers who were recently laid off.
The employees who are being shortchanged are members of Meta’s Sourcer Development Program, a program that was intended to help workers from diverse backgrounds obtain careers in corporate technology recruiting. The Sourcer Development Program is part of Meta’s Pathways program, which helps people with non-traditional professional backgrounds obtain apprenticeships at the social networking giant for various roles. Nearly every member of Meta’s Sourcer Development Program was let go from the company as part of its massive layoff.
Members of Meta’s Sourcer Development Program said they are only going to get 8 weeks of base pay and three months of health coverage. The workers said it’s unclear why they are receiving lower severance packages than their colleagues, considering they were full-time employees and not contractual staff.
On November 16, the group sent a letter to Zuckerberg and other Meta executives, including Meta’s head of people, Lori Goler and chief operating officer Javier Olivan, informing Meta management about their severance situation and asking for help resolving the issue.
“Even our former managers insisted we were confused and that all the information they were getting was that we were offered 16 weeks of pay and 6 months of health insurance,” the group wrote in the letter.
They later added, “Leadership may not have been aware that the last SDP class, which began in April 2022, was repeatedly assured by their leadership that any potential layoff would not impact their current employment but would likely impact the company’s ability to consider them for a full-time role.”
The impacted Meta workers have also said they have not received any replies from Meta’s human resources and management staff explaining their situation.
