Meta’s Block List Risks Company ‘Running Out of Employees’ as Ex-Staff Hit Back at Layoffs

• Meta’s secret block list has raised concerns of a decreasing talent pool for the firm.
• Some ex-employees have allegedly found themselves blocked from the company despite moving through the rehiring process with their former managers.
• Meta has received backlash from ousted employees over its “low performer” label.

Meta’s reported block list of laid-off employees has raised concerns that the technology firm will eventually run out of people to hire in its key growth markets.

The news of a secretive list of blocked employees comes as the Facebook owner undergoes its latest round of workforce cuts, aiming to decrease “low-performing” staff by 5% in favor of new AI initiatives.

Meta’s Alleged Block List

On Wednesday, March 5, Business Insider reported that some former employees attempting to reapply to Meta were finding themselves on a secret “ineligible for rehire” list.

In some cases, previously cut employees were reportedly in the middle of rehiring with their former managers before suddenly being ghosted.

The list was only discovered by employees after asking for information from third-party recruiters, Business Insider reported .

Meta is understood to have long-standing lists of employees who severely violate company policies, such as stealing confidential data.

However, Business Insider reported that managers within the company can also add names to the list without a clear violation or poor performance record.

“If a manager didn’t like you, it wasn’t hard to put someone on a list,” one former manager told the publication.

Another former manager noted that it would only take minutes to mark someone’s name as “non-regrettable.”

One ex-employee applying for a contract role at Meta told Business Insider that they had been put on the list despite having a rating of “exceeding expectations.”

A Meta spokesperson responded to these claims in an emailed statement, writing:

“We determine, at the time of separation, the reason for the employee’s departure — policy violation, performance termination, voluntary resignation etc. — and that, along with the last rating prior to separation and any other recent performance signals, determines whether an employee is eligible for rehire or not.”

Decreasing Talent Pool

The news of the block list and Meta’s continued layoffs have raised concerns about a potentially decreasing talent pool for future hires.

Rafael Brown, founder of game developer Symbol Zero, believes that Meta risks running out of hireable talent in vital areas if it continues its strategy.

“If Meta keeps doing layoffs and puts all the laid-off people on a ‘do not hire’ list. They are going to run out of people to hire in key markets,” Brown posted on LinkedIn in response to the news. “Block lists don’t work well unless you prune them periodically.”

Brown compared the blocked employee list to the gaming industry, which has long struggled to balance blocking players and maintaining a steady user count.

“Individual, studio, or corporation… blocklists have to be approached carefully and not arbitrarily,” he said.

“This is true professionally for hiring, recruiting, or even just when organizing your multiplayer gaming community Meta needs to learn. Even if after years or more than a decade of Facebook and Oculus, they haven’t learned from watching their own players and users,” he added.

Meta Receives Backlash From Fired Employees

Meta has received a wave of backlash from ousted employees after starting its latest layoffs, which are focused on low-performers within the company.

Former staff members have been sharing their experiences at the company, with many calling the layoffs unjust.

Steven S, a former product designer at Instagram who was let go during the latest round of cuts, claimed the low-performer label was misleading and wrong for many.

“I worked hard this past year. I contributed, collaborated, and did my best to push my team and our work forward,” he wrote on LinkedIn .

“And yet, like thousands of others, I was swept up in a process that had more to do with hitting numbers than fairly evaluating individual performance,” he added.

In comments to Business Insider, a Meta spokesperson said “Simply because someone had a history of meeting or exceeding expectations does not mean they continue to consistently meet the bar.”

“Employees at Meta have always been held accountable to a goal-based culture of high performance,” the statement concluded.