Apple is providing stock bonuses to some engineers in order to prevent them from moving on to companies like Meta, reports Bloomberg. Last week, select engineers in silicon design, hardware, software, and operations were informed that they would be receiving a $50,000 to $180,000 stock bonus, which Bloomberg says is "unusual and significant."
Most engineers received stock worth $80,000 to $120,000, with the bonuses provided as restricted stock units that are set to vest over the course of four years provided the employees stay with Apple and do not take jobs at other companies.
The payouts aren't part of normal Apple compensation packages, which include a base salary, stock units and a cash bonus. Apple sometimes awards additional cash bonuses to employees, but the size of the latest stock grants were atypical and surprisingly timed, the people said. They were given to about 10% to 20% of engineers in applicable divisions.
Apple told managers that the bonuses could be provided to engineers as a reward for high performers, and it is likely meant to keep companies like Facebook parent company Meta from poaching employees. Meta has hired approximately 100 engineers from Apple in recent months, though Apple too has hired some Meta employees.
Meta is recruiting from Apple's augmented reality, AI, and engineering divisions. Meta is planning to launch a smart watch in the near future that will directly compete with the Apple Watch, and when Apple launches its planned AR/VR headset, it will compete with the Meta-owned Oculus virtual reality headsets.
Top Rated Comments
How come we don’t hear about Microsoft Or Google engineers leaving the company?
Apple: You should also offer free housing for the engineers in the Bay Area, California.
Update: Check out the salary below. That's not even included bonuses. The year 2014. Making bank over here. $180K in 2021? ?
???
I recognize these are RSUs but I mean to people talking about 180K being nothing or not much. We have household incomes in my state that are around 45-50K a year as the average. That's a family of 4 paying their bills and getting by at 50K. their cars are 10 years old and they're not saving much for retirement but if you told them they'd have to work somewhere for 4 years for 200K a year + 180K after 4 years, you'd be changing lives.