The iPhone maker is doing all it can to avoid an exodus of talent attracted by the metaverse, the crypto industry and competitors.
Apple (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. Report knows that the products and services offered to consumers are the connection points that fuel its success against its competitors. The Cupertino, based-California giant is also aware that to continue to manufacture revolutionary products and offer quality services, it must be among the creme de la creme in terms of talent.
The race for talent has grown and intensified recently with the emergence of the crypto industry, the metaverse, and web3, the new generation of the internet. In other words, Apple is no longer just in competition with its traditional rivals — Samsung (SSNLF) , Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report, Alphabet (Google) (GOOGL) – Get Alphabet Inc. Class A Report, Meta Platforms (FB) – Get Meta Platforms Inc. Class A Report, Intel (INTC) – Get Intel Corporation Report— but now with startups.
The advantage of these startups is that they have money, lots of money because venture capital firms are currently investing in their promises to completely disrupt traditional industries and tech.
Apple has understood this well. And to avoid an exodus of talent, the manufacturer of the MAC has just pullet its checkbook out. Apple is again rewarding its engineers with stock bonuses in order to persuade them to stay with the company, according to Bloomberg.
Select hardware and software engineers are expected to get bonuses of up to $200K, which is a rare offering from Apple.
The bonuses will range from $100,000 to $200,000 and will be given in the form of restricted stock units that are set to vest over the course of four years if the employees stay with Apple and do not take jobs at other companies. They could become more valuable over time if Apple’s stock price continues to rise.
Apple did not respond to a request from TheStreet for comment.
Facebook Is Hiring for The Metaverse
Apple has been giving bonuses to encourage employees retention and to prevent other companies from poaching its engineers.
Last December, Apple handed out bonus stock ranging from $50,000 to $180,000 to employees in the company’s hardware technologies division, which designs its custom chips, and its team working on future virtual and augmented reality headsets.
The payouts are not part of normal Apple compensation packages, which include a base salary, a cash bonus, and stock units. Apple sometimes awards additional cash bonuses to its employees, but the size of the latest stock grant was atypical, Bloomberg reported.
Apple has been affected recently by departures of engineers who have joined Meta and in particular, the divisions in charge of activities related to the metaverse such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality. By renaming itself Meta last October, Facebook decided to invest heavily in this buzzword which promises a virtual world in which we will interact socially with others through avatars. We could go to a concert, to a restaurant, to an art exhibition, all while using virtual reality headsets and other technological tools.
A search on LinkedIn or Google for engineering positions in metaverse-related activities at Meta Platforms brings up many postings.
Some engineers at Apple were informed of their bonuses by senior executives in their respective divisions, according to Bloomberg. Over the past few weeks, the company has also been giving typical annual bonuses and compensation adjustments ahead of its April 15 vesting date. Employee stock vests twice annually, in April and October.
