Amazon told its corporate employees that is it was raising its cap on base cash compensation to $350,000, more than double the amount, citing “a particularly competitive labor market,” according to an internal announcement viewed by The New York Times.
Amazon had previously capped its pay for tech and corporate employees at $160,000 in most parts of the United States, favoring stock compensation that vest over several years for the rest of an employee’s pay package. Despite strong earnings announced last week, Amazon’s stock is down more than 4 percent over the past year.
The company did not say if the increased cash compensation would be paired with lower stock awards. It told employees that it was increasing the overall compensation ranges for “most jobs globally, and the increases are much more considerable than we have done in the past.”
The compensation increases were only for salaried corporate and tech workers, not its hourly workers that power Amazon’s operations. Those employees earn an average of about $18 an hour.
Amazon confirmed the note but declined to comment further.
Amazon has seen a rash of departures at its senior levels, where compensation is heavily weighted in stock. Its cash salary cap was far lower than that of other major technology employees and a source of frustration for its workers.
The changes to compensation come during the first annual pay review cycle since Andy Jassy became chief executive last summer. He previously led Amazon’s cloud computing division, which competed fiercely with other tech companies for talent.
The announcement was first reported by GeekWire, a Seattle technology news site.
Amazon increased its work force by more than 300,000 people over the past year, and now has more than 1.6 million employees.
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