Meta blacklists ex-employees, even top performers, from rehire consideration

Ever wonder what happens after you leave a big company like Meta? Turns out, they might be keeping tabs. A new report says Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, has internal “block lists. ” These lists contain the names of former employees who are ineligible for rehire.

Even Top Performers Can Be Blacklisted

Here’s the kicker: even if you were a star employee, you could still end up on this list. Seriously. Five former Meta employees, including two managers, told Business Insider that Meta tracks folks who violated company rules or didn’t perform well. They get tagged with a “non-regrettable attrition” label. Ouch.

Want to add someone to the list? Apparently, managers could do it in minutes. Just fill out a form. No documented performance issues needed, allegedly.

Getting Off the List? Good Luck.

Getting on the list seems easy. Getting off? Not so much. One senior Meta engineer, blocked from rehire, was told even a VP’s approval wouldn’t change their status. Another hiring manager said they’d never seen anyone get off the list and land an interview again. The number of people on these lists? Unknown.

Layoffs and “Exceeded Expectations”

Two employees impacted by Meta’s massive layoffs in 2022 said they consistently earned “Exceeded Expectations” on their reviews. But when they reapplied through staffing agencies, HR flagged them as “ineligible to be hired. ” Talk about a surprise.

Meta’s Response

A Meta spokesperson said several things determine rehire eligibility. These include your last performance rating, recent performance signals, and how you left the company (policy violation, resignation, etc. ). Fair enough?

Is This Normal?

Is this standard practice in the tech world? Apparently not. Laszlo Bock, Google’s former head of people operations, said he’s “never seen” a formalized, large-scale system like Meta’s. “I’ve never heard of anything like this,” he wrote on LinkedIn. That’s saying something.

Meta employed over 74,000 people as of December 2024. Who’s on the list? And what does it really take to get off?