Dive Brief:
- Median wages for workers in California's Bay Area are commonly in the six-figure category, a CNBC report revealed. Facebook currently pays its employees the highest median wage among the tech giants — $240,000. Comparisons between CEO's salaries and workers' median wages also were included in the report. The data came from reporting rules for publicly held companies as required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- Software companies, including Netflix, Google and Twitter, and storage cloud firms came out on top in median salaries. According to CNBC, semiconductor companies like Intel and Advanced Micro Devices pay lower median salaries than other high-tech companies because chip manufacturers aren't in the research, engineering and design areas of the industry, which command more compensation.
- Median worker pay calculations didn't include high-end perks such as on-site gyms, free catered meals and laundry facilities, said CNBC. However, in some companies, such as Alphabet (Google's parent company) and Facebook, median pay calculations included employee benefits and the value of restricted stock units.
Dive Insight:
Wages have remained stagnant for several consecutive months for most workers. A new Willis Towers Watson report projects only slight wage increases for 2019. But tech companies are willing to pay a premium to get and keep tech workers with in-demand skills.
Including benefits and restricted stock units in the calculation of median pay might account for Facebook's comparatively high salaries. Benefits and high-end perks can add substantially to employees' total compensation. Although employees tend to consider salary alone as an indication of their worth, and money still edges out other employment factors as a reason to change jobs, the value of benefits and perks shouldn't be discounted. Showing employees their total compensation in writing might not make workers happier about their earnings, but it's a good business practice.
