Facebook offers six months' bonus to 45,000 employees to help face coronavirus

Social media giant Facebook, has decided to give six-month bonuses and an additional $1,000 (Rs 74,037) to all its employees in order to help them during coronavirus outbreak. The Silicon Valley-based company is going to give $1,000 bonus to its 45,000 full-time employees.  It is unclear if contractors will also receive the bonus.  The announcement was made by Facebook's founder Marck Zuckerburg in an internal note to its employeees.

The bonus is to pay for those who are working remotely with additional expenses, such as setting up a home office or unexpected child cost.

According to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook median annual salary in 2018 was $228,651 (Rs 1,69,11,027).

Facebook has also announced that it would be investing $100 million to help 30,000 small businesses in over 30  countries where its employees live and work.

"We've heard loud and clear that financial support could enable small businesses to keep the lights on and pay people who can't come to work. That's why today I'm announcing that Facebook is investing $100 million to help 30,000 small businesses in over 30 countries where our employees live and work," Facebook Opearting Office Sheryl Sandberg said in a post.

Apart from Facebook, several other tech giants like Amazon, Google and Microsoft are all encouraging employees  to work from home due to coronavirus. On March 4, Facebook confirmed that a contractor was diagnosed with coronavirus in its Seattle office.

The coronavirus outbreak has killed 7,987 people and sickened over 1 lakh people till now, according to worlometre.

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