Microsoft Corp. said it would not raise full-time employee salaries this year due to the current economic situation. Still, it will keep its bonuses, stock awards, and promotion programmes.
The company, now firmly focused on the profitable field of generative AI, decided to fire 10,000 employees in January, following other tech firms in getting ready for a turbulent year.
“We recognize that navigating both a dynamic economic environment and a major platform shift requires us to make critical decisions in how we invest in our people, our business and our future,” a spokesperson for the tech giant said.
Microsoft has been integrating artificial intelligence technology into its Office products and Bing search engine, along with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which received billions of dollars in funding from the tech giant.
Insider cited an internal email by CEO Satya Nadella earlier in the day that said Microsoft was helping speed up a significant technological change in the new era of Al in the face of rising rivalry and unpredictability in the global macroeconomic environment.
“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,” Insider said, quoting from Nadella’s email.
