Facebook is going to start awarding bonuses to employees who help the firm achieve 'social good'

Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook employees.

• Facebook will start handing out employee bonuses if they help the firm achieve "social good."
• Previously, employees' contribution to company performance was scored on more measurable criteria, such as user growth.
• In Facebook's fourth-quarter earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg laid more of an emphasis on fixing pressing social issues than in previous years.

Facebook is coming up with ways of cleaning up its platform following months of scandal - and one new initiative will see it offer bonuses to employees who help the company achieve "s0cial good."

The financial incentives were first reported by Fortune after being announced by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Menlo Park on Tuesday. Facebook later confirmed the initiative to Business Insider.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

It's not entirely clear how Facebook will measure "social good." Facebook's Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer told Fortune that there's no easy way to figure out how well the company is progressing on its new goals. "This is going to be our first time figuring this out," he said.

Facebook bonuses are currently calculated on four metrics: Eligible earnings, individual bonus target, individual performance, and company performance. It's the latter of these four categories that will change from a focus on user growth to improving Facebook's standing in the world.

Zuckerberg views social good as: Fixing Facebook's problems, like election interference; building products that improve people's lives; supporting small businesses; and being more transparent.

Read more: In 15 years Facebook has amassed 2.3 billion users - more than followers of Christianity

"Over the past two years, we've fundamentally changed how we run Facebook. This particular change is designed to ensure that we are incentivizing people to keep making progress on the major social issues facing the internet and our company," a Facebook spokeswoman told Business Insider.

On Facebook's fourth-quarter earnings call, Zuckerberg emphasised that going forward, the company would concentrate more energy on fixing social problems, ranging from fake news to hate speech, to election interference and beyond. Zuckerberg also told investors that he wanted to shift focus to promoting "meaningful interaction" on the social network, not just trying to maximise usage.