'Woke up at 3 am to pump milk, there it was...' Meta fires woman who was on her maternity leave
Anneka Patel, communications manager at Facebook, revealed the moment when she came to know that she has been laid off. She received the email while she was on maternity leave. She expressed gratitude for the opportunity and said community leaders at Facebook are doing a fantastic job of improving people’s lives.
FollowThis week, Meta, the organisation that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, disclosed the largest layoffs in business history. 11% of the workforce, or 11,000 workers, were to be let go, according to Meta.
Anneka Patel, a former Facebook communications manager and the mother of Emilia, a 3-month-old infant, was also let go along with the other 11,000 workers. When she was on maternity leave, she got the email. She said, “This morning I found out I was one of the 11,000 employees impacted by the Meta #layoffs. This hit me hard as I’m currently out on maternity leave," and her “heart sank" upon receiving the email.
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When Anneka relocated from London to the Bay Area nine years ago, she claimed that her ideal job was to work at Meta. “It’s been an incredible 2.5 years working on the Facebook Groups product, which I truly think is the best part of Facebook," she added.
Despite being fired, Anneka was appreciative of Meta. She expressed her thanks for the chance and praised Facebook's community leaders for their outstanding work in enhancing the lives of others.
She intends to start working again the following year, and she urged the community to hunt for suitable communications jobs in her LinkedIn post. In May 2020, Anneka Patel was hired by Meta, which had been actively recruiting during the Covid epidemic after determining that the unexpected increase in web traffic represented a long-term shift in people's behaviour. In only two years, the number of employees increased to approximately 90,000.
Also Read | Mark Zuckerberg confirms Meta to lay off 11,000 employees, will pay 4 months of severance
The biggest layoff in Facebook history was caused by meta layoffs, and Mark Zuckerberg informed staff in a detailed letter. Additionally, Mark Zuckerberg stated in the letter that the impacted workers will get 16 weeks of basic salary and an extra two weeks for each year of employment with the firm.
