Apple recently appointed Meta’s head of public relations to market AR devices to head the company’s own AR division prior to the supposed release of its Apple AR headset in the next year. Since it’s hiring best talent from rival companies and is worried that they will do similar things. To prevent this from happening, Apple is now doling large stock bonus payouts to its employees in order they won’t go elsewhere, which it is referring to Meta.
Bloomberg reports that Apple has granted “unusual and substantial stock bonus” to engineers working in the company. The bonuses are ranging from $50,000 to $180,000, something Apple has never done before. These bonuses are aimed at designers in semiconductor design and hardware as well as select software and operations groups. According to sources familiar with the issue the “out-of-cycle” bonuses are scheduled to be distributed over the course of four years, and will give employees the motivation to not leave Apple.
According to those who chose not to disclose their identities to Bloomberg the company, engineers were awarded amounts of close to $80,000, $100,000 or $120,000 worth of shares. These incentives were given out in rewards for performance by their management at Apple.
Bonuses of these sums aren’t often offered at Apple since the majority of engineers or employees, get the base pay, units of stock and cash bonuses. Some people familiar with the situation stated that this was an “atypical and unusually scheduled” bonus, which was offered to just 10-20 percent of engineers within specific areas. These categories, while not defined could be the ones Apple requires more than its competitors’. For instance silicon design is the area the area where Apple is making huge strides with its M1 processor. However, the loss of top talent could impede its growth against Intel.
Apple recently saw many resignations, which included those of its top executives of its Apple Car initiative. Then there was the negative press that was not able to settle after Apple’s decision to send employees back to campus was a hot subject for tech workers, particularly during the time that Omicron fears are rising. At present, Apple has pushed back on returning its employees to the workplace and has also announced it is closing Apple Stores across the US with a focus on the current circumstances.
With the bonus, Apple is giving a message that top performers will be recognized at this company even when that involves a departure from the usual method of handing stock bonuses such as this. This will aid in helping Apple encourage employees to stay with the company, particularly when there are large and significant projects in the pipeline.
