Well, that's a pretty big "only benefit". I'd love to work for Microsoft but would never in a million years consider working for Amazon or Meta, even if you literally offered me a million dollars a year. I'd much rather take something like a third of that and enjoy my life; I've already got fuck loads of money (by my, and most "normal" people standards)
It also doesn’t seem like it’s a 25% bump in total comp.
> Microsoft plans to “nearly double” its budget for employee salary increases and boost the range of stock compensation it gives some workers by at least 25%, an effort to retain staff and help people cope with inflation.
Sounds like the cash salary bump is a bit less than twice normal amounts (so likely ~10% instead of 5%).
Separately, the stock grants for some employees will be bumped by ~25%.
It’s not existing grants being bumped, but the ranges offered for yearly perf-based RSU awards. For example, if the range for a level was 0 - 10K, it is now 0 - 12.5K.
The only benefit to choosing MS is for better work-life balance than Amazon or Meta, which are notoriously competitive environments.