Facebook angers Silicon Valley staff by axing free laundry service

Soon after social media giant recorded first ever drop in users, parent company Meta began ‘adjusting’ employee perks

Mark Zuckerberg has had enough of doing his Metamates’ dirty laundry.

Meta, nee Facebook, stopped flipping the bill for a load of colours and whites in what a spokesman called an "adjustment" to better reflect the needs of its new, post-Covid hybrid workforce.

But some are upset at the loss of the dry cleaning and laundry service from their total compensation of salary and stock options.

“I have been using laundry benefit and love that cleaners come home, pick up stuff and bring it back,” a Meta staffer wrote on anonymous job forum Blind, according to SF Gate.

“Such a helpful one where clothes are folded and I don’t have to worry much and focus that time for my axis work.”

The engineer, on a self-reported annual salary of $850,000, was also upset the market had slashed the value of his stock options by $200,000 while Meta slashed the value of its free dinners.

The company pushed back the start of its dinner service to 6.30pm, a full half-hour after the last of its free shuttle busses depart from its Menlo Park headquarters, according to seven anonymous company employees quoted in The New York Times.

They also removed to-go boxes. Employees quickly complained in their internal forums and asked whether they would receive other compensation for not being able to bring home a free meal, according to the Times, which was first to report the news.

A member of the company’s food services team wrote the decision was made six months ago to stop employees cramming steaks in 10 to-go boxes.

Meta’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, defended the changes in a reportedly "combative" tone against the perceived sense of entitlement.

Bosworth has been one of the most high-profile defenders of the company’s recent changes, including its rebranding of employees from Facebookers to Metamates.

He confirmed on Twitter that "Metamates" was a reference to the Naval phrase, "Ship, Shipmates, Self".

That particular change had employees worried they were becoming a "cog in a machine" given the militaristic inspiration of putting themselves last behind their shipmates, while their ship, Meta, is placed above all.

In a statement shared with media, a Meta spokesman said the changes to on-site services and amenities coincides with employees returning to the office.

“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,” the statement said.