The optics on this one have been fascinating to watch on social media.
I've seen a lot of people in my own network who work at U.S. tech companies share this as an example of what companies should be doing. A lot of contrasting takes about how U.S. companies are laying people off while MB is handing out higher than expected bonuses.
Meanwhile, I know for a fact that a lot of the people sharing this are getting paid significantly more than these employees and also have bonus plans that pay out several multiples higher than the highest MB payout (7300EUR) even in a bad year.
Maybe this is an example of managing expectations. Mercedes-Benz paying four-figure bonuses to employees is noteworthy largely because they're paying more than expected. Meanwhile, I see people who earn significantly more being unhappy because their compensation was less than some number they expected.
Interesting lesson in how expectations are relative, not absolute.
> Interesting lesson in how expectations are relative, not absolute.
Yup. I have a hard time taking any of the whining on HN seriously. People being paid $300K+ but all they can do is complain that they attend too many meetings. People that job hop once a year but the idea of layoffs is high treason.
I’ve been chastised before for suggesting “there is no humanitarian crisis” when engineers (like myself) are laid off. A strange “I deserve to be employed like this” vein, which is natural, but wrong.
It is, however, a fact that a relatively high amount of HNers earn way over 100k due to the prevalence of people form SV on here. Tech salaries in the rest of the world are nowhere near those in SV.
Mercedes-Benz's market cap is $106M, while Microsoft's market cap is $1.78T. Microsoft is 16.8K times larger than Mercedes-Benz. People are aware of the difference when criticizing how US tech behaves.
Edit: See comments below. Correct Mercedes-Benz market cap is $76.5B, in which case Microsoft is 23 times the size of Mercedes-Benz.
Mercedes-Benz's market cap is way higher (like, almost 100x higher) than $106M, and I don't think that market cap is the right metric to use when evaluating a company's ability to pay its workers.
Mercedes-Benz had roughly the same net income as Facebook last quarter, and in the same ballpark as all of the major US tech companies, and still has significantly lower average pay.
> Meanwhile, I know for a fact that a lot of the people sharing this are getting paid significantly more than these employees and also have bonus plans that pay out several multiples higher than the highest MB payout (7300EUR) even in a bad year.
Yeah I was surprised by the number. I have a relative that makes anywhere from 1.5x to 3x her annual salary on her annual bonus working for a US finance company.
> Maybe this is an example of managing expectations. Mercedes-Benz paying four-figure bonuses to employees is noteworthy largely because they're paying more than expected. Meanwhile, I see people who earn significantly more being unhappy because their compensation was less than some number they expected.
The tradeoffs are essentially this. In the US you can make orders of magnitude more money on salary, bonus and stock compensation. However, you get essentially zero employee protections. Meaning you can be fired without cause and without severance at anytime. You have no legal right to things like maternity or paternity leave, and you have no legal right to affordable health insurance coverage.
It's a bit tricky to discuss because there are legal rights associated with things, though they're not nearly as good. (For example, a right to 12 weeks unpaid leave, for some.)
Also, companies often provide benefits above the legal minimum, making the minimum less relevant for those employees, unless something changes.
I've seen a lot of people in my own network who work at U.S. tech companies share this as an example of what companies should be doing. A lot of contrasting takes about how U.S. companies are laying people off while MB is handing out higher than expected bonuses.
Meanwhile, I know for a fact that a lot of the people sharing this are getting paid significantly more than these employees and also have bonus plans that pay out several multiples higher than the highest MB payout (7300EUR) even in a bad year.
Maybe this is an example of managing expectations. Mercedes-Benz paying four-figure bonuses to employees is noteworthy largely because they're paying more than expected. Meanwhile, I see people who earn significantly more being unhappy because their compensation was less than some number they expected.
Interesting lesson in how expectations are relative, not absolute.