Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly addressed worker complacency in a recent all-hands meeting following complaints that some employees are simply coasting along while enjoying bumper paycheques.
According to insight shared with Business Insider by people in attendance, Huang acknowledged the growing issue of some long-tenured Nvidia employees not pulling their weight, a concern raised by colleagues who appear to have noted that some middle managers have entered a “semi-retirement” stage whereby they’re not putting in the work that’s worthy of their high salary.
Several reasons for this complacency were cited, indicating that the inherently poor work ethic relates to workers resting and vesting.
Nvidia managers cruising through to retirement
According to the report, the company’s CEO has been reluctant to fire workers, with the last large-scale round of redundancies taking place in 2008 at the time of the economic crash. During the 2022-2023 layoff season, Intel reportedly cut hundreds of jobs, while Nvidia kept all its workers onboard, offering reduced salaries and higher stock awards instead.
The problem is that Nvidia’s stock is up by around 1,400% over the past five years, and around 240% this year to date, thanks to a huge surge in orders of chips powering new AI tools.
Nvidia has arguably benefited more from artificial intelligence than rival chipmakers like AMD and Intel, and long-standing workers see this as an opportunity to stockpile shares and watch them grow, leaving them with little motivation to put in the work.
The company is also slated for having a pretty hands-off management style, making it difficult for execs to identify and address problems like complacency.
Huang has asked that workers take ownership of their work by viewing themselves as their own CEO. Nvidia declined to comment.
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