• Microsoft managers use forms to requests retention bonuses for employee they can't afford to lose.
• One such document, viewed by BI includes, a field specific to employees' AI contributions.
• Microsoft AI employees earn a lot more than colleagues, according to payroll data viewed by BI.

Some managers at Microsoft may be trying harder to retain talented employees with AI know-how, according to an internal document viewed by Business Insider.

Microsoft managers use these types of documents to make the case for retention bonuses. Prompts include questions such as "What harm is done if employee leaves Microsoft?"

Managers can request special stock or cash awards to help keep employees who are most important to the company's strategy. One such document viewed by BI includes a separate field specific to employees' contributions in AI.

"In the context of AI transformation as a key priority, please indicate if this individual is critical AI talent and share the risk to the AI initiative/s if talent is not retained," the document asks Microsoft managers.

This question was added to the document recently, according to a person familiar with the situation. It was prepared for a specific, large group inside Microsoft. However, it's unclear if the AI question is being added to similar retention documents in other parts of the company.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the company does not have a central form for special stock and cash award requests, and organizations and teams can choose whether to add different fields, depending on what their strategic priorities are.

Still, the addition of the AI question to this specific document suggests that the AI talent wars may be pushing some parts of Microsoft to do more to prevent poaching by rivals.

Google, OpenAI, Meta, and other tech companies are racing to develop the most powerful AI models and the best generative AI tools, and they need employees who know the technical details of how to craft these products. That's caused bidding wars for some talent, along with multimillion-dollar compensation packages sometimes.

The company has already prioritized AI talent when it comes to compensation.

As of September, average compensation in Microsoft's AI group was about 37% higher than the average for all of the company's US employees. Software engineers working in AI, for example, earned 48% more than the average software engineer at the company, according to a payroll spreadsheet shared with BI.

In 2023, during a leadership crisis at OpenAI, Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott said the software giant would hire hundreds of OpenAI employees and match their current compensation.

He made the announcement in the midst of job cuts and a salary freeze at Microsoft, which made some employees furious.

Are you a Microsoft employee or do you have insight to share? Contact reporter Ashley Stewart via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-425-344-8242) or email ([email protected]). Use a nonwork device.