Apple is remunerating its most valuable employees with a juicy bonus program in stocks in an attempt to retain talent. This program is not public and is not affecting all workers, which has caused quite a stir among company workers who have not received this extra compensation that was intended to be kept secret.
The goal of this program is to prevent your most skilled employees from marching to tech rivals like Facebook or other tech firms. So the firm is selecting the employees it deems most important to deliver thousands of dollars in stock. The war between companies to find and retain workers is deepening in the US.
The purpose of the bonuses
Last week, the company informed some hardware design engineers and select software and operations groups of these extraordinary bonuses, which are issued as units of restricted shares, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Shares are awarded for four years, which provides a significant incentive to stay at the iPhone maker.
The bonuses, which has been a surprise to those who received them. These salaries have ranged between 50,000 and up to $ 180,000 in some cases. Many of the engineers have received amounts that have been delivered in different scales: 80,000, 100,000 or 120,000 dollars in shares, as revealed by sources who prefer to remain anonymous, since this remuneration program is not public. These bonuses have been presented as a reward for the most qualified workers, as revealed from Bloomberg.
Apple is waging a talent war with companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, and Meta (Facebook) looms as a particular threat. Meta has hired about 100 Apple engineers in recent months, but it hasn’t been a one-way street: Apple has also ‘stolen’ employees from Meta, a struggle from which the employees of both firms are benefiting greatly.
Technological rivalry
The two companies are likely to become staunch rivals in the realm of virtual and augmented reality headsets and smartwatches, while both plan to launch major hardware products over the next two years.
The payments are not part of Apple’s normal compensation packages, which include a base salary, units of shares, and a cash bonus. Apple sometimes gives additional cash bonuses to employees, but the amount of the latest stock awards has been extraordinarily high, the sources say. Between 10% and 20% of the engineers in the corresponding divisions have received some type of bonus.
As sources reveal to Bloomberg, this program has been a grievance for some engineers who did not receive the shares and believe that the selection process is arbitrary. The value of some of the bonuses is equal to the annual stock award given to some engineering directors.
Meta does the same
Meta, meanwhile, has redoubled its efforts to attract engineering talent from Apple’s augmented reality, artificial intelligence, software and hardware divisions. The social media giant, which operates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has offered significant salary increases in its attempt to reorient its activity towards hardware and the so-called Metaverse.
The talent drain has affected other areas as well, including Apple’s self-driving car team. The company needs to maintain its engineering leadership as it works on several next-generation devices, such as the autonomous car, virtual and augmented reality headsets, and future versions of the iPhone.
At the same time, pressure from Apple to return to the office has affected some employees, prompting engineers to leave. Although the company has delayed the deadline for staff to return, it is embracing a tougher line on face-to-face work than other competing firms.
Face-to-face work at Apple
Apple expects company employees to work from the office at least three days a weekWhile the hardware engineers will have to come four or five days a week. Meta and other companies pretend to be more lax with their policies.
But Apple acknowledged this month that workers will likely be staying home for the foreseeable future. After eliminating the return-to-office deadline, Apple has ensured that it would give $ 1,000 bonuses to all corporate, retail and service employees so they can purchase home equipment.
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