Microsoft is giving all its employees a $1,500 (over Rs 1.12 lakh) pandemic bonus, in recognition of a challenging fiscal year that the tech giant just completed.

According to The Verge which has seen an internal memo, Microsoft is gifting the bonus to all staff below corporate vice president level that started on or before March 31, 2021.

It will also include part-time workers and those on hourly rates.

Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft's chief people officer, announced the bonus for all employees yesterday. The bonus, as per the report, will be given to all eligible employees in the US as well as internationally. However, the bonus will be given to those employees who are below corporate vice president level. Even part-time Microsoft employees will be given the bonus.

Microsoft has 175,508 employees worldwide.

Giving bonus to all its employees will cost Microsoft around $200 million. Overall, the company has about 1.75 lakh employees working for it across the world. The bonus, however, will not be handed to employees who work for LinkedIn, GitHub and ZeniMax, even though Microsoft owns the three companies.

A report by CNBC further suggests that the bonus is "part of an effort by technology companies to keep employees happy during the pandemic and make sure they stick around while many are still away from offices."

Recently, a trend has emerged that a lot of employees are quitting their jobs as offices reopen. Companies like Facebook, Amazon too have given some sort of financial incentives and rewards to their employees in the last one year.

Earlier, Facebook gifted its 45,000 employees $1,000 each and Amazon gave $300 holiday bonus for frontline workers.

Microsoft has announced to delay the reopening of its offices till September, after it stated to slowly reopen Redmond, Washington-based headquarters and nearby campuses from March 29 with a six-stage hybrid workplace strategy.

Currently, Microsoft work sites in 21 countries have been able to accommodate additional workers in its facilities - representing around 20 per cent of its global employee population.