Communications of the ACM
What Tech Companies Pay Employees In 2019
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Nearly a decade ago, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, Congress passed a law requiring publicly traded companies to report the median pay of their employees and compare it to the CEO's pay.
The requirement kicked in for most companies last year. And now, as tech companies begin to report their median pay for a second time, the figures offer a further glimpse into the compensation of some of the nation's highest-paid workers.
The median pay at Google parent Alphabet rose 25 percent last year, to $246,804. An Alphabet spokesperson says the large increase reflects a shift in when the company distributes stock and stock options.
On the flip side, Facebook reported that the compensation of its median employee declined almost 5 percent last year, to $228,651.
"Candidates still want to work [at Facebook], and take pay cuts to work there," says Valerie Frederickson, a veteran Silicon Valley human-resources consultant. "I see people take huge pay cuts and demotions to go there."
Overall, the filings reveal that big tech firms pay extraordinarily well. Twitter, Square, human-resources software maker Workday, and graphics-chip maker Nvidia each reported that median employee pay in 2018 exceeded $150,000. Government data show that the average wage for a software engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area last year was roughly $140,000, far higher than the national average of $104,000.
From Wired
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