Microsoft is reportedly handing out $1,500 pandemic bonuses to employees worldwide

• Microsoft is doling out $1,500 bonuses to its employees worldwide, The Verge reported Thursday.
• The bonus applies to employees below the level of corporate vice president.
• Many companies have given out extra cash to employees during the pandemic.

Microsoft is handing out bonus pay to employees worldwide as a reward for making it through the trying pandemic year, The Verge reported on Thursday.

The $1,500 bonuses are meant to recognize the "unique and challenging fiscal year that Microsoft just completed," according to an internal memo from Microsoft chief people officer Kathleen Hogan that was viewed by the outlet.

The software behemoth has well over 150,000 employees, and workers below the level of corporate vice president are eligible for the bonus, The Verge said. Employees of Microsoft subsidiaries LinkedIn, GitHub, and ZeniMax are excluded.

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

A Microsoft representative confirmed to Insider in an email that it did give out a bonus, but did not confirm the amount.

"As a symbol of our appreciation for coming together as One Microsoft during a uniquely challenging year, we are proud to recognize our employees with a one-time monetary gift," the spokesperson said.

All told, Microsoft is paying out about $200 million to roughly 130,000 employees, The Verge estimates. That's a drop in the bucket compared to Microsoft's $53 billion profit in 2020.

Read more: A Googler who spent more than a decade poking fun at the company with his cartoons is leaving. He tells us why his latest book is 'a lot more critical' of Google.

Lots of companies have taken a similar approach to workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Walmart paid associates an extra $388 million in bonuses in December in recognition of their "sustained commitment to customers during the pandemic." Amazon doled out small bonuses to its part-time and full-time frontline workers at multiple points during the pandemic. Facebook in March of 2020 said it would give out $1,000 to each of its 45,000 employees. And many tech companies gave their employees allowances for home-office equipment.