Microsoft skipping salary hikes this year for full-time employees

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Microsoft, a global tech firm based in the US, has announced that it will not be giving salary increases to its full-time employees this year.

In an email sent to employees on Wednesday, CEO Satya Nadella stated that the current economic environment is "very different across many dimensions," including changes in customer demand, labor market conditions, and the required investment for innovation.

Nadella said the company is trying to focus on developing artificial intelligence (AI), and noted that the market remains competitive and faces macroeconomic uncertainties.

"While we will have salary increases for certain hourly or equivalent roles, we will not have salary increases for full-time salaried employees this year," he wrote in the email, according to multiple reports.

Microsoft posted a net income of $18.3 billion in the January-March period of this year, up 9.6% from $16.7 billion in the same period last year. Revenue increased 7% to $52.8 billion from $49.3 billion during the same period.

The company in late January extended its partnership with ChatGPT-maker and AI research laboratory OpenAI, a week later it announced plans to lay off 10,000 workers by the end of September, which amounts to less than 5% of its global workforce.