Apple Inc. wants to keep its employees. So much so that the company recently shelled out stock bonuses up to $180,000 for its staff, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Employees were surprised to receive the bonuses, said the outlet, which spoke to employees who asked to remain anonymous. Apple managers told recipients of the stocks that they were being rewarded for high performance.
Engineers in silicon design, hardware and select software and operations groups received the restricted stock units, said sources. Around 10 to 20 percent of engineers in applicable divisions received the stocks.
Some engineers who didn’t receive shares believe the selection process was arbitrary, said the Times
At the low end, the stocks were worth $50,000 and many engineers for the company received $80,000 to $120,000 shares. Most shares will vest – or be earned – in four years, meaning that employees will have to stay with the company for at least that long before they actually receive the benefit.
Typically, Apple compensation packages, which include a base salary, stock units and a cash bonus. While the company sometimes awards additional cash bonuses, the recent bonuses were unusual in both size and the time they were awarded.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta has recently aimed to “poach” talent from Apple’s workforce, especially in the augmented reality field. In the past few months, Meta has hired around 100 engineers from Apple with the help of salary raises. However, Apple managed to hire away Meta’s augmented reality public relations head Andrea Schubert as of this week.
Both companies are expected to produce augmented reality and virtual tech such as reality headsets and smart watches over the next two years to connect to the metaverse.
Apart from the augmented reality rivalry with Meta, Apple has also had a “talent drain” on its self-driving car team.
This summer, Apple’s plans to have employees return to corporate offices after they began working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic upset some employees. Meta, then still operating under the Facebook banner, allowed its employees to work from home.
Corporate Apple employees are eventually expected to return to work three days per week, with hardware engineers expected to come in four to five days per week. However, the company said this month that the in-office return date has yet to be determined and that each employee would get $1,000 to furnish their home offices.
Apple workers have also criticized the company’s treatment of Black, Indigenous and historically marginalized groups through the #AppleToo movement.
A representative for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company declined to comment to the Los Angeles Times regarding the stock bonuses.
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