Meta (META) -) CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to have employees return back to the office might be falling short, as a huge financial penalty is coming for the company’s pockets.
According to a report by Fortune, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has ended its lease on one of its office locations in London 18 years earlier than expected. As a result, the social media giant will have to fork up £149 million, or $181 million — the equivalent of seven years rent to their landlord, British Land.
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The nine-figure penalty comes as the company is adopting a more aggressive hybrid work structure. In an internal memo to employees delivered by Meta's Head of People Lori Goler on August 17, employees assigned to an office must appear in person for at least three days a week or risk termination starting on September 5 — a sharp about-face from Zuckerberg’s earlier praise of remote work.
They defended their decision by citing that requiring employees to return to work on-site would boost collaboration between employees.
The surrender of the London space can be also be attributed to its mass layoffs earlier in March, where over 10,000 staffers who could potentially fill empty office space were cut from their jobs.
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London-based Meta employees still have three other locations in the British capital to secure a desk, including a 400,000 square foot facility spanning two connected buildings in King’s Cross.
Meta’s decision to break its lease provides a huge injection to British real estate giant British Land, but as the hybrid work model is continually adopted to fit employee's needs, the world of commercial real estate will have to adapt in order to gain tenants.
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