In March, the big news in the tech sector was that Meta keeps private “block lists” of past employees to prevent them from being rehired. The news was first shared by Business Insider (BI), creating an avalanche of feedback. Some companies have a different name for block lists, calling these employees non-regretted attrition.
While many people are appalled by the practice, it is essential to note that it is not illegal. And it is not just Meta that uses the practice. Companies will argue that it’s a valid way to eliminate the possibility of rehiring poor performers. However, many people who have spoken out about the practice said they had solid performance reviews and didn’t have any misconduct issues, yet they are still on a block list.
The secrecy surrounding these lists is what frustrates people the most. According to BI, “A former employee of a major chip company who was part of a wave of layoffs in 2015 said they were told they were “banned for life” from working at the company despite a promotion and a raise right before the cut. “Why? No one seems to know,” they said, “and it seems likely that I will never know.”
Unfortunately, all it may take to be put on a block list is a disagreement with a manager. Fair or not, once someone is on the list, it can be next to impossible to be removed. Often, the only people deciding whether someone is eligible to be rehired are their direct manager and HR. However, Meta claims they have a defined process with various factors they consider before putting someone on the block list and that one person cannot unilaterally take that action.
That may not be the case, according to former META leaders who spoke to BI and said the block lists procedures are not as robust as they would have you believe. “Managers often have broad discretion to add names to these lists, without documented performance issues. “If a manager didn’t like you, it wasn’t hard to put someone on a list,” one former manager said. It would “take minutes to get someone marked as ‘non-regrettable,” they told BI. “The manager would get an email asking if it was non-regrettable attrition or not.” In some instances, a recruiter or a current manager that wants to hire a candidate that used to work at the company would run into a brick wall when they tried to ascertain why the candidate was on a block list.
Google’s former HR head was surprised by the news, “I’ve sometimes heard an exec say, ‘Don’t ever re-hire this person,’ but never seen a large-scale, systematic approach like this.” According to the article, “Meta’s practices appear to be unusual even within the competitive tech industry landscape. Barring former employees with no major policy violations from being rehired without notifying them explicitly isn’t standard practice at other major tech companies, according to industry veterans familiar with hiring systems.”
Assuming the person was not doing anything illegal, creating a hostile workplace, or something similar, this highlights how shortsighted some companies can be by not taking advantage of information learned from a competitor when a former employee realizes the grass is not always greener. Bringing in a new perspective often helps companies see new opportunities.
The practice also assumes people are not growing, learning, and evolving professionally. New roles and experiences provide new perspectives and skills. Keeping someone on a block list for years after they departed eliminates talented people who already know and embrace the culture.
Block lists can make a difficult job search even more frustrating, especially if the person left on good terms and had no issues during employment. While META’s block list may hurt the employee in the short term, META will likely lose out in the long term.
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