New mom and Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer has added gifts for babies, puppies and kittens to employee perks as part of a campaign to bolster morale, the pioneering Internet firm confirmed on Tuesday.
“We’ve been very focused on making Yahoo the absolute best place to work,” a company spokesman said in an e-mail response to an inquiry. “Over the last several months, we’ve introduced new benefits like free food to make Yahoos’ days easier, new smartphones to encourage innovation, and updated computers to speed productivity.”
The latest employee benefits were aimed mostly at fledgling parents.
“New child leave” was extended to eight weeks and Yahoo picking up the tab for up to US$500 in “daily habits” such as groceries, laundry, take-out food and child care for workers when they are new parents.
KITTENS TOO
Yahoo will also give employees gift packages for babies or new cats or dogs taken into homes.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company will also let workers take as much as eight weeks unpaid leave whenever they hit five-year milestones, according to the spokesman.
Mayer stirred up a controversy earlier this year with a directive banning Yahoo employees from telecommuting, reasoning that workplace interaction would help energize and inspire the people in the company.
Mayer gave birth to her first child, a boy, in October last year.
Mayer took over in July last year at Yahoo after 13 years at Google, in a move aimed at reinvigorating the struggling Internet firm.
She hauled in US$36.6 million in pay, bonuses and stock last year after just six months at the helm of the Internet firm, with some of that time spent on maternity leave.
MAYER’S PAY
Mayer’s base pay of US$454,862 was fattened with a US$1.12 million performance bonus and about US$35 million in stock, according to a filing on Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Mayer’s annual base pay this year will be US$1 million and she is eligible for many times that amount in stock and bonuses if she hangs on to the post.
Beginning this year, Mayer will also be eligible to enjoy benefits generally available to other top Yahoo executives, such as 20 days of vacation annually.
In addition to a US$1 million annual salary, Mayer will get US$2 million yearly in bonus cash if Yahoo hits financial performance marks, according to paperwork filed with the SEC.
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