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Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

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Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#181

Post by throw_away_45 »

I work for FB and wanted to shed some more light on this

Several employees are pledging to donate that to charities, including me. Internally, employees are mobilizing to help others in need, via fundraising and other causes. It's a beautiful sight.

FB is giving away around $100 million to 30K small businesses. Zuckerberg has pledged to match up to $20 million in donations. And he's pledged money via his philanthropic arm to fight COVID-19.

Stop complaining and start doing. What did you do today to help others ?

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#182

Post by boca_honey »

packetslave wrote: post #157
nerdponx wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stated another way: this is a $45m PR investment.

Considering that the only way HN knows anything about this is because some jerk leaked an internal post from Mark, this has nothing to do with PR.

"Mark". Is he your friend?

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#183

Post by oaiey »

bigbob2 wrote: post #178
oaiey wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because working from home with kids unable to leave house produces extra expenses for child care (switching from daycare to babysitter will be expensive) etc. If you do not do that, you need to cut hours, which reduce your income. What FB does here is to comfort their worried employees with some money, push the overall moral and mitigate some of the impacts ppl feel. You can replace babysitting with caregiving, being…

So instead of reducing hours without cutting pay, or even just finding ways to give parents more flexibility in their work arrangements, we increase the demand and thereby the cost of those services so those employed in less cushy/flexible industries have no recourse.

True. But that would imply less work done for them. Not their interest.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#184

Post by JonRB »

behringer wrote: post #71
briffle wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook should be doing this for their contractors. (not the software development ones).. the guys who clean the office, maintain the landscape, cook the food, clean the dishes in their cafeterias, etc.

Haha I'm a contractor at my current job and while my job is extremely secure, all those benefits and assurances my company is sending out don't apply to me. Its great that none of the employees at my company have to show up sick and will still get paid, but what about us temps and contractors? The temps and contractors are the ones that will be spreading covid-19 due to our circumstances.

Isn't that a call you make when you sign on as a contractor though? At least at my company, contractors make a boatload more money, with the provision that you don't get any of the normal benefits provided by the company.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#185

Post by smoyer »

throwaway713 wrote: post #37

I don’t know what the deal is, but I feel like the cynicism on HN has just constantly ramped up over the past couple of years. I actively feel worse after reading the comments on a lot of articles posted on here, and it’s just not an enjoyable experience. There was another article posted recently about a CEO raising the minimum salary of all of his employees to $70,000 and cutting his personal costs to afford it, and…

So true ... let's give praise where praise is due even if we're not fans of an individual or organization. Kudos Facebook (for this policy/action). I also appreciate articles that provide a bit of humor - the sentence "In an effort to create social distancing, which can help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, Facebook has also asked its Seattle and Bay Area employees to work from home if they are able and banned social visitors to its offices" made me laugh because Facebook is promoting social distancing (next they'll recommend you delete your account).

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#186

Post by NoodleIncident »

dpkingma wrote: post #118
garmaine wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Childcare is explicitly listed as an essential service :/

In SF it's actually a bit more nuanced than that: https://sf.gov/stay-home-except-essential-needs "Are nannies permitted to be used? What about other in-home child care? In some instances. If the nanny provides medical/health care for the child, then yes. If the nanny lives with you, then yes. Otherwise, nannies not necessary for medical care are not permitted. Also, parents required to work away from home for essent…

The Santa Clara(?) one that I read had some other specifics about daycare. IIRC the kids have to be in groups of 12 or fewer that aren't mixed around from day to day, and anyone in contact with one group can't be in contact with any other groups.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#187

Post by oaiey »

Hamuko wrote: post #86
oaiey wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because working from home with kids unable to leave house produces extra expenses for child care (switching from daycare to babysitter will be expensive) etc. If you do not do that, you need to cut hours, which reduce your income. What FB does here is to comfort their worried employees with some money, push the overall moral and mitigate some of the impacts ppl feel. You can replace babysitting with caregiving, being…

> If you do not do that, you need to cut hours, which reduce your income. Are Facebook employees paid by the hour?

Well, when you only work 50% they surely will pay you less. And that is what parents face. When eliminating private life, maybe you can work 75%.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#188

Post by twitch-chat »

sumofi wrote: post #177
throwaway713 wrote: post #37

I don’t know what the deal is, but I feel like the cynicism on HN has just constantly ramped up over the past couple of years. I actively feel worse after reading the comments on a lot of articles posted on here, and it’s just not an enjoyable experience. There was another article posted recently about a CEO raising the minimum salary of all of his employees to $70,000 and cutting his personal costs to afford it, and…

Is it note worthy that people who will not have issues are getting even more? I would say no? There should be some cynical response to that. "Oh you loose your business? I just got 1k extra to my FB salary" I'm not even sure why FB would not try to do something for the society directly with it's money instead of giving it to there well paid employees.

FB is donating to WHO, is creating a fund to help small businesses, partnered with CNN to spread awareness and keep people safe, and the Chan-Zuckerberg foundation has been helping test people across the Bay Area.

Can they not help their employees too? I'm a FB employee and while I'm not in need, not everyone is a developer. Life is expensive here in the bay. I think some people need to chill.

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#189

Post by packetslave »

boca_honey wrote: post #182
packetslave wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering that the only way HN knows anything about this is because some jerk leaked an internal post from Mark, this has nothing to do with PR.

"Mark". Is he your friend?

In my experience, people mostly refer to him internally as "Mark". Just like at Google they refer to Larry and Sergey as, well, "Larry" and "Sergey".

Re: Facebook is giving $1k to every employee

#190

Post by jka »

CydeWeys wrote: post #104
throwaway713 wrote: post #37

I don’t know what the deal is, but I feel like the cynicism on HN has just constantly ramped up over the past couple of years. I actively feel worse after reading the comments on a lot of articles posted on here, and it’s just not an enjoyable experience. There was another article posted recently about a CEO raising the minimum salary of all of his employees to $70,000 and cutting his personal costs to afford it, and…

Seriously, I don't know why people are trying so hard to find the negative here in a thousand bucks bonus to all employees. The top ranked comment in this entire thread is currently "But why? [...] What do they need the extra money for?" Talk about crab mentality. If your employer gives you extra money, you take it! Good on Facebook for redistributing some vanishingly tiny fraction of their cash to their employees in…

The comment[0] you reference is more nuanced than your brief copy-and-paste shows, and keeps a more neutral tone than you. Despite that, I'll respond.

Some of the frustration is because millions of people in the U.S. may be losing their service jobs soon and may find themselves in financial difficulty.

Meanwhile many Facebook employees already lead a life of privilege with excellent access to healthcare, free on-site perks, and good base salary and stock options. They are isolated from many of the experiences and problems of the daily grind across the U.S.

This bonus can also be seen as a political move by Facebook to undermine the current administration by essentially 'acting faster' than them in providing a demand-side financial stimulus.

It doesn't seem likely that they've co-ordinated with government or other tech companies on this policy, since not many employers nationwide would be able to provide the same kind of bonus, raising further inequity concerns.

Alternatively it can be seen as a bonus for people who might have been able to cope anyway by adapting their lifestyles temporarily. The median compensation for a Facebook employee is $228,651 according to the article.

Either way it will likely be an interesting decision to reflect on as the situation and political landscape develops.

[0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22606846

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