The company’s stock has risen more than 3,000% since the start of 2019, making many of its employees millionaires. But even though they’re rich, employees are often too busy at the office to enjoy it, 10 anonymous current and former employees told Bloomberg. Nevertheless, only a few are willing to leave the company, even if it means risking their shares.

A former employee who worked in technical support for enterprise customers and left in May said he often worked seven days a week and frequently ended his workday at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. Other employees, particularly in the engineering department, worked even longer, he added. Sometimes the pressure even led to loud arguments during meetings, the former employee said. In the marketing department, another former employee who left in 2022 said fights and shouting were also common in the 30-plus-person meetings she attended seven to 10 times a day.

A spokesman for Nvidia declined to comment.

Part of the demanding work culture goes back to long-time CEO Jensen Huang, who previously admitted that it was not easy to work for him. In an interview with 60 minutes In April, Huang said working at Nvidia would not be easy anyway.

“If you want to achieve something extraordinary, it cannot be easy,” he said at the time.

Yet despite the pressures at Nvidia, employees are leaving the company at a much lower rate than the industry average. According to Nvidia’s fiscal year 2024 sustainability report, the company had a 2.7% turnover rate in 2023, compared to 17.7% for the overall semiconductor industry.

One reason employees don’t leave is the opportunity to work at the cutting edge of technology at the AI ​​chip leader. But another is to hold out until stock awards vest, which at Nvidia typically happens after four years. Those who leave early could miss out on a big payday.

Nvidia’s massive stock surge has already made its executives some of the richest in the tech industry. With a stake of about 3.5% in the company, Huang is the 12th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $111 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Nvidia’s CFO Colette Kress’s shares, worth $757.8 million, are Bloomberg.

Nvidia’s employee stock ownership plan allows employees to contribute up to 15% of their salary to buy company stock at a 15% discount. A mid-level employee who has bought stock for 18 years, According to reports exited with $62 million worth of stock, according to Tae Kim, senior technology editor at Barron’s.

All this stock wealth is creating an unusual dynamic in the workplace, even among employees outside of management. A former engineering employee who left the company in June said Bloomberg that in 2023 and this year, it was common to hear about new vacation homes and see colleagues at work browsing on Zillow.

Outside Nvidia’s office in Santa Clara, California, Porsches, Corvettes and Lamborghinis line the parking lot. Some are even lime green – an homage to the logo of the company that made them possible.

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