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Data Scientist
Accept reduced stock award?
My company (Fortune 50) was super cagey about mentioning stock grants in their offer letter - something about internal policy. I was verbally promised X when accepting the offer and emailed my manager at the time saying 'hey I understand this cant formally go into the offer letter but wanted to confirm X'. They replied with essentially 'yes, pending board approval'.
Review time rolls around and I receive X/4 but need to formally accept it. In other words, I'd be receiving one fourth of what I was promised. I checked to make sure it's not just a vesting schedule thing (i.e. receiving one fourth of total promised each year)
My hiring manager is no longer at the company. My current manager is trying to help but no luck thus far. If I don't accept the reduced stock grant soon I'll lose it. I'm getting automated emails almost every day to accept it and even one from HR.
My current manager is amazing overall and I wouldnt want to make them look bad by causing a ruckus. I also doubt I'll stick around for the majority of any type of grant to vest. At the same time this feels wrong.
What should I do?
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infiniteloopSoftware Engineer
So you got X/4 when you thought you were getting X every year? That really sucks, and seems like a very big miscommunication. I'd express that you had conversations where X was highlighted as the yearly value and see if you could negotiate other compensation up in lieu of it (ie base or bonus), but I'd still accept the stock grant in the worst case. Does rejecting the grant do you any favors? But if you're not planning to stick around, I'd also just look for other opportunities starting now, recruiting takes time
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