Meta is bolstering perks like happy hours and company swag as it pushes staff to return to office, despite its ‘year of efficiency’::The company has revived a number of employee perks, according to Bloomberg, including branded t-shirts, laundry services, and free haircuts.
Love unions, but hate the idea of distilling all our problems down to “capitalism”. Give it a rest.
If the shoe fits …
As someone at a FAANG company, there is one “perk” that these companies offer that few others can match, and that’s freedom of movement. There are few companies where you can join in NYC, work a year, then move fully to London, Berlin, Sydney, Singapore, etc - all sponsored and paid for by the employer. Not only that, but where the employer will pay to find permanent residency and citizenship.
IMO, these are the true perks of the tech industry, and a reason why so many young people are ditching FAANG companies lately, as they start to cut back on allowing people to move teams internationally.
My org at Amazon was polled on retention, and over 50% of the team wanted to move teams after the layoffs. Amazon no longer sponsor international visas, and lots of people wanting to move to North America or Europe are jumping to other companies that will allow them to do so.
Funny enough, for the cost of some of the stupid events that my work have put on for RTO, they could have funded several visas and moves for candidates that wanted to try a new team. Hell, some literally cannot go to their current office, and would love to move somewhere where they could - but no, gotta keep those retention figures low to help the bottom line…
100% agreed. I left the States in 2017. Job searching is tricky now but it’s an absolute deal breaker… Remote or goodbye. I will accept nothing else.
Maybe I’m the odd one out, but I’ve never felt like moving to a different country to work. I can barely imagine moving from the east coast to the west coast. Perhaps I’m missing something, but never once have I visited a place and said, “I would love to spend 8 hours of my life every day in an office here.”
But I am at the ripe old age of 30, so maybe I’m past that demographic
I can definitely appreciate that. I’m 36, and am considering a move now, but that’s mostly because I’ve often worked for small companies and moving hasn’t really been an option.
There is definitely value in doing this when you’re young, especially moving to a big city out of college/university. I’ve found a surprising number of people in their thirties doing the same in big tech, mostly because there is more job security with experience, and having money + your health is a great thing if you want to try something new.
I think it’s an age thing yeah, but also it just comes down to circumstances. Id imagine that the people who are just packing up and moving to different countries every year for work don’t have a large family/friends support network around them
For me, moving to a different country would be a nightmare in more ways than I can count, I’ve got pets I’d have to arrange transport for, a wife I’d have to get on board (can’t even imagine if I had kids), all our family and friends are from the state we live in today.
But if you already had family/friends in that country, or if you were solo and your fakily/friends were already a distance away, then it wouldn’t be so bad
MAAANG
MAAAM
Am I out of touch?
No surely one more pizza party will turn this around.
Free prison style head shave whilst your shovelling garlic bread down your gullet too!
Alright lemmings reality check time. Would you take a job offer from meta if it was in your field and the pay was good?
Benefits matter, too.
I’m in the AAA gaming industry. EA laid me off earlier this year, and so I wound up looking for work elsewhere.
I’ve learned that really - the pay doesn’t matter if you hate your life every day. If I wanted good pay, I would learn COBOL and write software at a bank. What matters the most is the quality of the team you’re working with (primary), and what benefits your employer has (secondary).
If Meta were to call me up and say “Hey, we want you to be on a team with the greatest coworkers you’ve ever had,” then I’d at least hear them out. What is their culture? Do they believe in crunch? How do they handle sick days? Vacations?
And yes, WFH is part of that, too. But if they were willing to pay to relocate me, buy me a house near a metro station… yeah, I’d take it.
But if they were to offer me that exact same deal - except there’s no guarantees about production schedules/timelines, there’s the “bus problem” (where the project couldn’t survive someone important being hit by a bus), there’s a lot of crunch (or just bad experiences from friends who’ve worked there… Blizzard offered me a sweetheart deal and I said no because of that history)… I’m less likely to want to bite.
And everyone has different preferences. I’ve known some people who love the office. I don’t mind it myself, with the right group. But everyone has to make their own call.
Metro station… oh you sweet summer child. You know what public transit is available near the Meta campus? Maybe, and I mean maybe, a bus stop to get on the homeless express across the bay.
I’m a little sad. My last studio was literally next to a Gold Line station here in Los Angeles. I could bike to the Gold Line and make it to work, and the Gold Line ran frequently and late.
My current job is a mile away from a Metrolink station. On the one hand - at least there’s a nearby station! On the other hand - the Metrolink trains are running the wrong direction for me, I’d need to make a connection at LA Union Station, and the latest one that goes the direction I need it to go (while still allowing me to make my connection) leaves at 5 (which is still considered core working hours for me).
The schedule is like… impressively bad. I’d use it if they ran it later, but they don’t seem to think anyone could possibly be headed in any other direction other than “towards LA” in the morning and “away from LA” at night.
That’s a pretty privileged position to be in. Not everyone can say no to a job because the quality of the team isn’t to par because they are more interested in keeping food on the table than being happy at work.
I don’t think the discussion is choosing between not working AT ALL and working there.
It is more about would you work at a good place that has good people and decent pay, or Meta.
Nope. Professionals have standards 😂
Seriously, Meta is for me in a very short list of companies where I would not work under any circustances, so the pay could be as good as you want but is a no.
I’ve built my life around working from home now, if that’s not a part of the offer then it’s a non-starter
Maybe but they’d probably just sunset the project anyway and in ten years it will look more like a stain on my resume than a badge. Plus traffic on Willow Road is a no for me dawg.
Fr. It was so nice during the pandemic when I could actually get onto that stretch of 101/84 with no traffic.
If it’s fully remote, yes.
No. Remote is better for the company and for me. There’s tons of better opportunities.
Recruiters keep asking me to apply and I must’ve told them to pound sand about 3 times in the past 2 years.
In my country… yes. If I get over the 3month (max allowed) testing period, then they almost cant fire me, so i’ll happy take those monies just for showing up. Of course, they dont have offices here :)
I’d apply the same standards as any other offer
It’s just a job, of course I would. I feel like I dislike most companies anyways, including the one I work for so it wouldn’t change much.
Define “the pay was good”.
For what they’re known payscales say they’d pay a dev with my experience? No way in hell. It’s only slightly more than I make now, and I’d have to go back to the office and work for an evil company (though I’m in Insuretech today, so that bit might just be a lateral move…). Plus I live in a low CoL area today, so a bit more money would actually mean a substantial QoL drop.
Now if we’re talking stupid money, like $600k/year, then yeah I’d suck up going to the office and abandon my morals. Frankly anyone here who says they wouldn’t do it for any salary is kidding themselves
Negatory. There’s more to life than money and I have too many ethical conflicts with how they’ve operated. They do have some fun tech though.
This dude really need to change his haircut lol he looks like he just do it himself at home.
Verily, one must maintain the utmost reverence when discussing our illustrious Emperor. Criticizing his haircut would be an affront to the grandeur and authority of our magnificent Meta Empire. Let us, instead, extol the virtues of Meta and the remarkable achievements of our Emperor.
Imagine how good it would look if he cut it at the office!
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You’d think a tech bro would realise there have been a few technological advancements in the last couple of thousand years. Including hairdressing.
That’s not hair… that’s skin for his
disguise.
All that money, and he still can’t find a decent hairstyle.
Allegedly, he purposely cuts his hair like that because he thinks of himself as a modern Augustus (Octavian).
He looks like he cuts it himself with nail trimmers.
Say what you want, but its also an iconic look. You recognize his face the moment you see it, with that sorta disinct (but still kinda shit looking) haircut.
But also I dunno, I can understand the vibe of wanting super short hair to keep it up and out of the way, some people just prefer their hair cut to stay the hell out of the way, without committing to being full shaved down.
I try not to judge on such a thing. If he likes that haircut, fuck it, the dude makes more money while sitting down for his haircut then 100 haircuts would cost him to pay for.
He can do whatever the fuck he wants with his hair.
I would rather judge him by his actions, like that shit he pulled with buying “private” beaches and whatnot.
Edit: Actually out of curiosity I looked this up for some updates, and it sounds like he and his wife have been putting in efforts to actually do right by the locals, and that a lot of the bad press was just trying to dunk on him and was largely just stuff going over poorly with locals, so he retracted offers and went back at it again but with the help of local professors to ensure he did it right and in a better way.
It sounds like over the past few years he and his wife have been pouring money, like a LOT of money, into preserving tonnes of wildlife and donating a bunch of money to save large areas that were going to be privately developed, and instead now have enough money to pretty much stay preserved and managed by the locals forever.
https://www.kauaitravelblog.com/mark-zuckerberg-kauai-property/
Not gonna lie, it actually sounds like the dude is trying to put in some real work to do good here, I have to say.
Why would they return to the office just because you offered them drinks?
Zuck: they are dumbfucks
As an Aussie, I know a lot of people that would do something for a carton of beer.
What about zuck and board members? Do they come into the office everyday?
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FAANG companies are generally used as example of extremely well paying jobs. Your comment confuses me.
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They don’t need pizza parties. Even people who can afford their own food like free pizza, just probably not enough to give up working from home.
Pizza is a lot less than the money they’d have to shell out to force people into the office. Based on the average software engineer salaries I’ve seen at several FAANG companies, I’m in the same ballpark. I’d need my salary at least doubled to consider it, because I don’t actually need the extra money. That’s why they try cheap perks.
If a free haircut makes me look like Zuckerberg, no thanks.
So much for saving the planet
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Meta is trying to tempt employees to return to the office by bringing back perks such as happy hours and branded t-shirts.
The company has revived a number of pre-pandemic employee perks, according to Bloomberg, a change that unnamed sources said has boosted morale amongst staff after a year of layoffs and acrimony over Meta’s return-to-the-office policies.
The perks returning include branded t-shirts, happy hours, laundry services, and free haircuts.
The tech giant’s drive to cut costs and boost profitability has seen it lay off about 25% of its staff since November 2022, although Meta has recently begun to rehire some of those who lost their jobs.
The revived perks, which also include a new coffee bar and earlier dinners, are part of Meta’s renewed effort to lure staff back into the office.
Last month, Meta announced that employees would be required to work in the office at least three days a week, and warned that those who repeatedly refused to comply risked losing their jobs.
The original article contains 309 words, the summary contains 166 words. Saved 46%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
