Apple is at it again, trying to retain top employees in a competitive marketplace by giving them big money. This time the Cupertino tech giant has handed out a round of special stock bonuses to a group of hardware and software engineers. The amounts range from $100,000 to $200,000.
Apple offers $200,000 in stock bonuses to retain certain employees
In an effort to keep employees from leaving, Apple paid out the bonuses in recent days to a select number of staffers in its software and hardware engineering departments, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reported Friday.
Paid in restricted stock units, the rewards range from $100,000 to more than $200,000.
Some employees at Apple called the bonuses “special retention grants.” Because the payouts vest over several years, they stand a chance of keeping employees from leaving. Reportedly, the point is to prevent employees from taking offers at other tech companies.
And of course, the shares earmarked for valued employees could rise in value along with Apple’s stock price — if it continues to go up. Apple shares are up 40% over the past year. But they’re down slightly in 2022 due to a tech selloff, analysts have noted.
The last time Apple offered big bonuses to employees came in December. At that time, Cupertino saw fit to reward a larger number of engineers than this time. And the top payouts in December were $180,000.
Reportedly, Apple has also been pushing in similar ways to keep retail talent on the job. The company is getting ready to offer pay raises and other benefits to workers at Apple Stores in hopes they won’t leave.
