Xbox's 'Golden Handcuffs' Are Screwing Over Laid Off Workers
Xbox's 'Golden Handcuffs' Are Screwing Over Laid Off Workers
'Unvested shares' are something I didn't even understand last week but this week have been floored by
I don't understand what this article is about.
I also get RSUs at my job. Every "performance review cycle" together with salary increase I am awarded N shares that will vest over some period of time (multiple years). A few times a year those shares are vested, and after they are vested I actually own them and can sell them (or hold them for as long as I want). So they are part of my compensation package. If I get laid off (or quit) I will obviously not receive my unvested shares. The same as I will not receive any salary that my company would pay me if I continued working there.
So I don't understand how complaining about not receiving unvested shares is different from complaining about not receiving salary that you would get in the future by continuing working for the company...
When you understand how RSUs work and what you're signing up for there's nothing inherently wrong with rewarding someone for years of service.
However, their structure / terminology is inherently misleading and manipulative.
A company could just give you stock at each performance review. It doesn't need to give you magic shares that need to be incubated before they hatch, it could just give you the actual shares they want to pay you at each point.
They don't because that would expose that they're actually giving you nothing in the first several years, and they want you to think you own part of the company when you don't.
Again, when you understand what they're actually offering then you go in eyes wide open, but they are intentionally trying to deceive people into thinking they're getting a reward earlier than they actually are.
That's dirty. If the company is deciding that you can't stay around long enough to vest those stocks, they should pay them out. There should never be a reward for dumping people.