A laid-off Meta worker says the company paid her to not work: They were 'hoarding us like Pokémon cards'

• An ex-Meta worker said she was part of a group that didn't have work to do when hired.
• Britney Levy told Insider some people were frustrated and felt Meta was stalling their careers.

Britney Levy, a Meta worker who lost her job in the company's first round of layoffs, said recent comments that the social-media giant paid employees to do "fake work" weren't exaggerated.

"I am one of those employees that was kind of hired into a really strange position where they immediately put me into a group of individuals that was not working," Levy said in a TikTok posted Saturday. "You had to fight to find work."

In the video, which has garnered over 870,000 views, Levy said she felt Meta was hiring people so other companies couldn't have them.

"They were just kind of, like, hoarding us like Pokémon cards," she said in the video.

Insider's Jason Lalljee previously reported that Levy was part of Meta's yearlong diversity program, which helps workers from underrepresented backgrounds work in tech recruiting. Levy was laid off after working for the company for about seven months. She told Insider that she's able to speak about her work at the company because she didn't sign Meta's severance agreement.

A spokesperson for Meta did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.

On Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg announced the company was laying off another 10,000 workers after cutting 13% of its workforce late last year. In the past, the CEO has emphasized Meta's plans to make 2023 the "year of efficiency," which means slashing head count. In February, Zuckerberg asked some managers to move to roles as individual contributors or quit, Bloomberg reported.

As a member of the Sourcer Development Program, Levy said she talked to workers across the organization and found several employees were frustrated with the lack of work they were able to do at Meta, while other people grew more protective of their work as news of pending cuts spread.

"A lot of people felt they were being set up to be people who were laid off," Levy said. "People who were incredibly well qualified and had turned down amazing opportunities said they felt Meta was intentionally stalling their career. I mean, they were telling people not to work on things, but at the same time, there was a lot of work that needed to be done."

Levy said she faced several roadblocks in her work, including struggling to get permission from higher-ups to contact job candidates. She said that instead of sitting around, she took the opportunity to read up on the company's policies and reach out to other workers about their experiences at the company.

"I could have taken a day off and no one would have known," Levy said. "I think there were probably people who were just checking in and then doing nothing."

While being paid to do little-to-no work might sound like a dream job to some, Levy said she felt there were few people at Meta who were happy in that situation.

"This kind of experience gets me nowhere," she said. "I don't have metrics I can put on my résumé. Right now, all I can say is that it was an educational opportunity."

On Monday, the billionaire tech CEO Thomas Siebel said he believed companies like Meta and Google overhired so much that they didn't have enough work for employees. He is one of several tech executives to express concern that employees aren't doing enough work.

Earlier this month, Keith Rabois, a member of the so-called PayPal Mafia, said Google and Meta hired thousands of staff who did "fake work" — a view that has gained some traction with several Silicon Valley investors and founders.

Do you work for Meta? Reach out to the reporter from a nonwork device at gkay@insider.com.