Microsoft Gives Employees $1,500 Pandemic Bonus, GitHub Gives Days Off

Long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shared this report from the Verge: Microsoft is gifting its employees a $1,500 pandemic bonus. In an internal memo seen by The Verge, the software giant says this one-time bonus "is in recognition of the unique and challenging fiscal year that Microsoft just completed."

Microsoft's chief people officer, Kathleen Hogan, announced the gift to employees Thursday, and it will apply to all eligible employees in both the U.S. and internationally. Microsoft is gifting this bonus to all staff below corporate vice president level that started on or before March 31st, 2021, including part-time workers and those on hourly rates. Microsoft has 175,508 employees worldwide, but LinkedIn, GitHub, and ZeniMax employees are not eligible for the bonus, despite Microsoft owning these three separate companies. As a result, we understand it's a gift of around $200 million, or less than two days' worth of profit for Microsoft.
The article also notes similar gifts given to employees at Facebook, BT, and Vox Media, as well as Amazon's $300 holiday bonus to frontline workers.

And GitHub did do something special for its employees, according to the company's holiday FAQ: The pandemic brought unprecedented challenges, revolutionizing the way our customers and open source community build software. We have watched our employees step up...while also balancing the unique complexities of remote work, children, health, and more. We recognize that our employees are our greatest asset, so to give back to our employees who give so much, we will be taking company wide wellbeing days July 5-9, as well as six Fridays in July and August.

GitHub is committed to providing our customers with high-quality customer support and will have staff available to assist should an issue arise, however you may experience a delayed response during these dates.

To ensure a seamless developer experience, we recommend that you refrain from upgrading between June 28 and July 9.

And Slashdot...

[thegarbz]

gives readers dupes.

Re:

[Lije Baley]

As a coworker of mine once said, "It's better than a sharp stick in the eye."

Re:

[thegarbz]

And the slightly related comment: "Better to be pissed off than pissed on.

One day off

[Opportunist]

Pfft. That's nothing, lots of companies now give their staff unpaid, permanent vacations!

sounds a bit low

[codeButcher]

In my locale it translates to about a week's pre-tax wages. I know US salaries are about twice ours. (Not taking into account cost of living or anything else, just exchange rates.) I've felt a bit insulted previously when employers gave meal vouchers/free junk food/an insubstantial bonus in recognition of going above and beyond and sacrificing my free time/social time/work-life balance to meet their badly-planned deadlines and keep them profitable for at least the next quarter. I guess it's still better than a stick in the eye, but not much. (These days I prefer to do the 40 hours and shut down, even if I'm in the middle of an interesting task. The European work ethic is not hard to adopt and the parent company is based there in any case. Not doing bad financially either.)