Zuckerberg Announces $1K Boost For Facebook Employees

Full-time Facebook employees will see a financial boost of $1,000 in their upcoming paychecks as the tech giant moves to assist workers during the coronavirus pandemic, CNBC reported on Tuesday (March 17).

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced internally that the company wants to help remote employees during the pandemic, two sources said.

In addition, all employees – including 45,000 full-time workers – could be eligible for potential bonuses following a performance review that “exceeds expectations” for the first half of 2020. In 2019, the median compensation for Facebook employees was $228,651.

The announcement was made internally by Zuckerberg. The bonuses will be distributed through April.

The company told The Verge that it will pay hourly employees regardless of their situations. Facebook also requested that its Seattle and Bay Area employees work from home and follow social distancing practices.

Through his charity organizations, Zuckerberg is also providing funding to boost coronavirus testing in the Bay Area.

Facebook joins other tech giants Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Twitter in pledging to hourly workers that they will receive their regular pay rate, despite being asked to remain at home due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, The Information said.

A memo to employees on Tuesday (March 17) indicated that Zuckerberg was looking to give workers time off to assist in required family care.

“I know this is an incredibly stressful time for everyone, and I appreciate everything you’re all doing to adapt, take care of yourselves and your families, and make sure we can keep providing important social and communications infrastructure for billions of people around the world,” he said in the memo.

In an effort to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) survive the coronavirus pandemic, Facebook also announced that it is offering $100 million in grants to 30,000 companies in over 30 countries.