Microsoft Cancels Salary Hikes For All Employees This Year, Reveals CEO Satya Nadella's Email

In a major setback for Microsoft employees, the tech giant has revealed that it will not raise salaries for full-time employees this year, but will continue with its bonuses, stock awards and promotions.

Microsoft has cited macroeconomic uncertainties and shifting industry dynamics ¡°in this new era of AI¡± as the reason behind cancelling salary hikes. This decision comes just a few months after Microsoft laid off around 10,000 employees earlier this year.

What CEO Satya Nadella Said In The Mail

Reuters

¡°We are clear that we are helping drive a major platform shift in this new era of AI [artificial intelligence], and doing so in a dynamic, competitive environment while also facing global macroeconomic uncertainties,¡± Satya Nadella, CEO at Microsoft, said in an internal email on Wednesday.

¡°This year, the economic conditions are very different across many dimensions, including customer demand, the labor market, and the investments required for the next cycle of innovation,¡± Nadella said in the email.

¡°As a senior leadership, we don¡¯t take this decision lightly, having considered it over several months, and believe it is necessary to prepare the company for long-term success,¡± he went on to say.

¡°While we will have salary increases for certain hourly or equivalent roles, we will not have salary increases for full-time employees this year¡±, as per a report by BQ Prime, which had also seen a copy of the email that was marked to ¡®Microsoft - All Employees¡¯.

¡°We will maintain our bonus and stock award budget again this year; however, we will not overfund to the extent we did last year, bringing it closer to our historical averages,¡± Nadella said in the email. ¡°We will continue to emphasize and recognize exceptional performance with high rewards, and to do so, managers will need to differentiate pay for performance within their allocated budgets.¡±

¡°The same principles apply to the senior leadership team and me. This will be reflected both in the absence of salary increases and in the level of annual performance-based bonuses for the SLT, which will be substantially lower than last year.¡±

Also Read; How Bill Gates' Microsoft Missed Out On $159 Billion By Selling Apple Stock Too Early

¡°It¡¯s A Slap In The Face¡±

reuters

Microsoft¡¯s decision to not raise salaries for full-time employees this year has been described as a ¡°slap in the face¡± by a software engineer working with the IT giant.

Isabela Moreira, senior software engineer at Microsoft, took to social media to voice her disappointment. The US-based Microsoft employee tweeted ¡°Microsoft isn¡¯t doing salary increases for non-hourly workers. Time to start acting my wage and saying ¡®no thanks¡¯ to extra projects.¡±

Welp, Microsoft isn¡¯t doing salary increases for non-hourly workers. Time to start acting my wage and saying ¡°no thanks¡± to extra projects.

¡ª Isabela Moreira (@isabelacmor) May 10, 2023

Exactly. Not that the merit increases we¡¯re keeping up with inflation but this is a slap in the face.

¡ª Isabela Moreira (@isabelacmor) May 11, 2023

When a person commented that no raise effectively amounts to a pay cut when one factors in inflation, Moreira agreed. ¡°Exactly. Not that the merit increases we¡¯re keeping up with inflation but this is a slap in the face,¡± she responded.

Also Read: Why Was There No iPhone 9 & Windows 9? Here's Why Microsoft & Apple Skipped The Number 9

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