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But why? Aren't most of their employees going to still be making their salary anyways? What do they need the extra money for? The people in the economy that re
by regnerba 7y ago
But why? Aren't most of their employees going to still be making their salary anyways? What do they need the extra money for?
The people in the economy that really need the money are not the people working at Facebook.
I mean, congrats to Facebook employees, I just don't understand why.
- izzydata 7y agoMaybe they think all their employees will spend an extra $1000 they wouldn't have otherwise. Some of it might be spent keeping local business running for a week? I don't know.
- pmiller2 7y agoI don’t work at FB, but I’ve definitely spent a few hundred these past couple of weeks preparing for the current situation.
- buboard 7y agoarent local businesses closing?
- kjakm 7y agoNot sure about the Bay Area but a lot of restaurants are switching to delivery only (inc. the kind of places that never did delivery in the first place) so this money could go to them. Money can also be spent buying things in advance - for example concert tickets for late in the year. This will help performers/venues remain afloat in the meantime. Also - for local businesses that weather the storm, these people now have an extra $1k + extra bonus that they can spend to help get them back to black sooner.
- Supermancho 7y agoYes. In washington and california, which isn't surprising. Some businesses can't cope with the shutdown, some were barely getting by and have just pulled the trigger (eg The Stranger in Washington State, bakeries, restaurants, gyms, etc) to close or drastically reduce services. This will get more common, as the MONTHS drag on.
- pmiller2 7y agoNot every FB employee is a highly paid software engineer who has savings to weather a multi-month public health crisis.
- buboard 7y agothen not everyone should get it
- pmiller2 7y agoThat’s certainly a valid opinion. Nonetheless, giving the bonus to everyone does no harm, looks better in terms of PR, doesn’t foster an “us and them” mentality, and is probably easier to administer than just giving it to select employees. The difference on the bottom line is a rounding error.
- tiles 7y agoMeans testing is a strategy but not really expected of a private corporation, e.g. you're just asking the company to do more work to accomplish less.
- CydeWeys 7y agoWhy is it bothering you so much that other people are getting a thousand dollar bonus? I'm happy for them, and I'd love for it to happen to me too. Facebook is not short of money. I'm glad they're doing something extra for their employees in these times.
- josefresco 7y agoBased on public data, I'd say most are. https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Facebook-Salaries-E40772.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Facebook-Salaries-E40772.ht...
- gdubs 7y agoYes, but in the Bay Area it's not uncommon to have household workers – cleaners, nannies, etc. Something like this would allow people to continue to pay those folks who are not working now, and have no other form of income or assistance. It would help the FB workers, because they're going to be doing that work on top of their normal jobs. Not saying that's what people will use the money for, but it ups the odds at least. If you're a tech worker and you have savings to weather a crisis: consider your plans for all the people who rely on you, who are waiting for something and not sure when and if its coming.
- Jagat 7y agoSo the classic argument of 'trickle down economics'. I"d wager that that $1k will just go into their bank account, like their bonus would.
- nostromo 7y agoFacebook is not the government. They are doing something positive in their locus of control. And of course people are upset about it because... reasons.
- AlexandrB 7y agoAre they giving their content moderation contractors $1k? I’m guessing not.
- outside1234 7y agoWhy would they need it? They are still coming into work. </sarcasm>
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- hiram112 7y agoI think the main reason I'm personally cynical about these types of 'good deeds' - whether it's Facebook giving $1K to their already well-paid employees or Bill Gates giving billions to charities - is that, in a perfect world, these ultra wealthy do-gooders probably shouldn't have so much fun money to give away in the first place. Our system should be much more balanced, where employees and researchers and charities don't need trickle down handouts. Bill Gates became (one of) the world's richest individuals via a monopoly and predatory capitalism, and destroyed many companies and individuals on their path to riches. Facebook's wealth derives from selling users' personal information that they should have never been allowed to obtain in the first place. I realize someone like Gates or a company like Facebook is going to be damned if they do and damned if they don't, but it doesn't change the fact that our system is not even close to as fair as we're constantly told it is.
- dalore 7y agoTrickle down of course. Those Facebook employees are expected to donate their bonuses to the others in society that aren't getting any help. Isn't that what other companies are asking? People to donate their sick days?
- outside1234 7y agoBut if that's the goal, why doesn't Facebook just donate the money to an organization that can actually help these people?
- briffle 7y agoFacebook should be doing this for their contractors. (not the software development ones).. the guys who clean the office, maintain the landscape, cook the food, clean the dishes in their cafeterias, etc.
- WrtCdEvrydy 7y agoYeah, but those guys unfortunately, have a pre-existing condition (poor-itis)
- fossuser 7y agoI don't work at FB, but I think they're continuing to pay contractors and hourly workers while shut down. It sounds like they're generally doing the right thing for their people?
- behringer 7y agoHaha I'm a contractor at my current job and while my job is extremely secure, all those benefits and assurances my company is sending out don't apply to me. Its great that none of the employees at my company have to show up sick and will still get paid, but what about us temps and contractors? The temps and contractors are the ones that will be spreading covid-19 due to our circumstances.
- Red_Leaves_Flyy 7y agoI've commented about my situation elsewhere, but I'm in a very similar situation. I've spent quite a bit of money I can't really afford right now to allow me to not need to leave my home for a couple of months if need be. I've also had to buy extra cleaning supplies and ppe as my employer either can't acquire or afford ppe for all their staff. I hope I don't get sick before I get laid off, but I have to leave my house to work in a very high traffic area. My employer also isn't making any statements about being paid while at home on leave. It'd probably kill the business. The owners taken on loads of debt and spent it rather frivolously over the past few years.
- JonRB 7y agoIsn't that a call you make when you sign on as a contractor though? At least at my company, contractors make a boatload more money, with the provision that you don't get any of the normal benefits provided by the company.
- fossuser 7y agoShopify did it too, mostly it was to help with buying monitor, desk, chair, etc. to set up a home office. Not sure if that’s the intent here, but makes sense.
- shawabawa3 7y ago1. That was shopify 2. It's an expenses budget for home working equipment, not just cash in their paychecks, and not with max performance rating for max bonus
- fossuser 7y ago1. My bad, fixed in edit (originally said Spotify). 2. Does that matter? Paycheck stipend is easier to process for everyone and just makes it the same amount for everyone so policy is easier. Seems like a nice thing to do for employees that might have extra expenses during the lockdown (higher grocery cost, etc.)
- dmurray 7y agoIt may matter quite a bit for tax purposes.
- oaiey 7y agoBecause working from home with kids unable to leave house produces extra expenses for child care (switching from daycare to babysitter will be expensive) etc. If you do not do that, you need to cut hours, which reduce your income. What FB does here is to comfort their worried employees with some money, push the overall moral and mitigate some of the impacts ppl feel. You can replace babysitting with caregiving, being sick, etc.
- djannzjkzxn 7y agoIs babysitting even legal with the shelter in place order?
- garmaine 7y agoChildcare is explicitly listed as an essential service :/
- TeMPOraL 7y agoThat kind of defeats the purpose of "shelter in place", doesn't it? With so many asymptomatic carriers and children being germ magnets, those babysitters are going to become a very effective vector for spreading the virus.
- dmix 7y agoNot everyone is capable of going without babysitters though. I see nothing wrong with it for exceptional cases.
- phoe-krk 7y agoThen you either have people whose situation worsens due to coronavirus illness or people whose situation worsens since they can't earn money and instead need to focus on child care. Pick your poison.
- garmaine 7y ago
- sys_64738 7y agoIf you earn 300k$ a year then $1k is a rounding error to their megabucks employees.
- Infinitesimus 7y agoMaybe, but earning $300K a year really tells us little about someone's financial situation. I'm sure you can imagine a world in which many things - eg: Mortgage, medical costs, loan payments, family needs - can make $300K gross income disappear very quickly. Also remember that that 300k really translates to $130-$180 (guestimate numbers) base and the rest if stock which has also been falling
- disgruntledphd2 7y agoYeah, the stock is down about 25% last time I checked. I'm a current shareholder, and will be a larger one if the price keeps going down :)
- nerfhammer 7y agoincome from RSUs will be down 30%
- starpilot 7y agoRight. This isn't charity, this is just another perk/bonus like free food or bean bag chairs.
- Impossible 7y agoThe stock market has dropped significantly and a large part of employee compensation at FAANG companies is RSU. This could be seen as making up for lost stock value.
- perfectstorm 7y agoI don't work for Facebook but here's my thinking: not everyone is making a software engineer salary at Facebook. personally, i never had a proper work from home setup so i would spend it on an ergonomic chair, keyboard, mouse, noise cancelling headphone, dual monitor etc.
- onetimemanytime 7y agoCause they can and the decided to do it. Adjusting to remote work does have a cost or two