Nvidia’s skyrocketing stock has made its employees so rich they’ll tolerate pretty much anything—even its demanding and sometimes unhealthy work culture.
The company’s shares have shot up more than 3,000% since the start of 2019, making many of its employees millionaires. But even though they may be wealthy, workers are often too busy at the office to enjoy it, 10 anonymous current and former employees told Bloomberg. Still, few are willing to leave if it means putting their vested shares at stake.
One former employee who worked in technical support for enterprise clients and left in May said he often worked seven days a week, and frequently ended his work day at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. Other workers, especially those in the engineering department, worked even later, he added. At times, the pressure even led to yelling fights during meetings, the former employee said. In the marketing department, another former employee who left in 2022 said fighting and shouting was also common in the 30-plus-person meetings she attended seven to 10 times per day.
A spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment.
Part of the demanding work culture comes from longtime CEO Jensen Huang, who has previously acknowledged he’s not easy to work for. In an interview with 60 Minutes in April, Huang said working at Nvidia shouldn’t be easy, anyway.
“If you want to do extraordinary things, it shouldn’t be easy,” he said at the time.
Yet, despite the pressures of working at Nvidia, employees leave the company at a much lower rate than is common in the industry. In 2023, the company had a 2.7% turnover rate, compared to 17.7% in the semiconductor industry at large, according to Nvidia’s Sustainability Report for fiscal year 2024.
Part of why employees don’t leave the company is the opportunity to work on the cutting edge of tech, for the leader of the AI chips industry. But another motivation is hanging on until stock grants vest, which at Nvidia typically happens over a four-year period. Those who leave sooner could miss out on a big payday.
Nvidia’s massive stock rally has already made its executives some of the wealthiest in the tech industry. With about 3.5% ownership of the company, Huang is the world’s 12th-wealthiest person, with a net worth of $111 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Nvidia’s chief financial officer, Colette Kress’s $757.8 million worth of stock put her above counterparts at Intel and AMD, whose holdings don’t exceed $10 million, according to Bloomberg.
Through Nvidia’s employee stock purchase plan, employees can contribute up to 15% of their salary to buy company shares at a 15% discount. One mid-level employee who bought in for 18 years, reportedly retired with shares worth $62 million, according to Barron’s senior technology editor Tae Kim.
All that stock wealth makes for an unusual dynamic in the workplace, even among employees outside of the C-suite. A former engineering employee who left in June told Bloomberg that in 2023 and into this year it was common to hear talk about new vacation homes and see colleagues scrolling Zillow at work.
At Nvidia’s Santa Clara, Calif. office, Porsches, Corvettes, and Lamborghinis line the parking lot. Some are even lime green—a tribute to the logo of the company that made them possible.
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