By silicon.com, 21 May 2004 17:20
Microsoft announced this week that it would be curbing employee benefits in an effort to save costs. The changes will include cutting medical care allowances and reducing a discount on stock options.
Some have found this news hard to swallow, especially given that this is a company with a cash pile of $50bn dollars or so - and the scheme is thought to save it under $100m.
Well, the people griping about the cuts should remember one thing: perks are exactly that - perks. Microsoft isn't cutting wages, nor making people redundant, like some of its peers.
While getting a discount on stock options may be nice, it's not the be-all and end-all of a job. And it's rarely why workers join a company.
Admittedly, Microsoft's stock option scheme did turn some of its early staff into millionaires but the technology market, as you may have noticed, isn't exactly booming - and Microsoft's share prices haven't exactly been soaring of late. (Another reason why it may be smart for the company to tighten its belt a bit.)
And may we point out that Microsoft employees will still get a discount on their stock options? OK, so it will be less than before. But no company is obliged to provide such a scheme and the cut will bring Redmond more or less into line with the concessions offered by other technology companies.
The software giant has long been known as a company whose employee benefits are second-to-none and no doubt workers won't be happy to hear the news. But faced with chancing their luck in the world outside Redmond, putting up with the cuts and getting on with it might not seem so bad.
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1. Jennifer
As an ex Microsoft employee in Redmond, USA, may I just say that the benefits that accompany employment at Microsoft are good enough that even a small cut like this keeps them head and shoulders above the rest. Happy employees abound at Microsoft; it's a lesson UK companies really ought to learn soon, or is the sheer Americanism putting them off?