“If you’re in your early 20s and you’ve never been in a startup before, on paper, it was like ‘Wow, I can buy a cottage,’ and then all of a sudden that’s gone in a period of months, that can really be head-spinning,” said Chris Albinson, chief executive at Waterloo, Ont. innovation hub Communitech.
The transition has been jarring for tech workers who grew accustomed to watching the value of their equity rise and their company hiring, funding lavish retreats and offering office perks like catered lunches and foosball tables. One-quarter were considering providing lookbacks — allowing staff to later purchase stock at the lower of its offering period or end of purchase period — and discounts for employee stock purchase programs.Article contentSachin Aggarwal
Household names like Google and Amazon are so ubiquitous they can pay larger salaries to fetch and retain talent. That kind of cash might not be available at smaller companies like Think Research, so these firms use equity compensation to attract top workers.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.