Apple is threatened by Meta, and it has given its top engineers in the hardware as well as software divisions out-of-cycle bonuses, so they won’t join Meta. The bonuses are in the form of restricted stock units valued in the range of $50,000 to $180,000, according to Bloomberg.
In October, it was revealed that Meta was looking to hire 10,000 engineers. Meta has poached about 100 engineers from Apple from then till now.
Apple now wants to put an end to this by offering its top talent significant stock options that lock them in with the company for years. These bonuses have been particularly offered to engineers in silicon design, hardware, software, and operations groups.
It was reported previously that over the next few years, Apple and Meta are likely to face off in a range of products such as mixed-reality headsets, smartwatches as well as home devices. While Apple has been a market leader in the smartwatch category, Meta is looking to make its name in the wearables segment. For the time being, virtual and augmented reality headsets and home devices are still in their infancy and are potential markets for both companies to tap into as we enter an age of internet-connected devices.
Meta aims to enter the industry and be successful like Apple has been. The Cupertino-based company is also looking for new opportunities other than devices like its autonomous car that has been postponed more than once.
Apart from Meta’s higher salaries, Apple’s own insistence that its engineers work from the office for four or even five days in a week could also be a reason why some have left, Bloomberg reported, while stating that Meta’s work policies are more laid back.
The stock options have been given to up to 20 percent of the engineers and could further increase in value as Apple’s market cap reaches $3 trillion. Apple has now scrapped its return to office deadline while also offering $1,000 bonuses to enable their employees to procure home equipment, said the report.