Jean on the Job
Silver handcuffs are attached to Silicon Valley executives who are not insider traders and perhaps not highest level executives, but have acquired enough stock options to worry about leaving the company before stock prize fruition. These programmers, administrative assistants, vice presidents of marketing, sales directors or estimators wait for the following reasons:
Stock will not vest fully for 3-5 more years. That will net $2 million to $15 million.
Stock has not reached a price worth selling, but company plans entice waiting it out. This 6-month to 2-year wait could show portfolio enhancement of $25 million.
Company is pre IPO and stock options and prices for options are tantalizing.
Depending on the post IPO price and company progress the net can be 5-30 million.
A promise of a promotion entails stock incentive which can make the wait worthwhile. This wait can net $20,000 to $20 million.
What happens to the waiting employee? Visions of grandeur, the lottery mentality, and just plain greed supply the patience for the wait. Each employee dreams in his own style and value system, but most dream with an enhanced delusional number in mind for the final reward. Here's what they plan:
We'll buy a fishing shop in the delta and live there forever.
We'll raise our children in the mountains where we can home-school them.
We'll bring our family from Wisconsin all out here and live at Lake Tahoe in the 6,000-square-foot cabin we are designing.
I will then take the time to program on my terms the Internet software which will save the world.
I will never have to hear my boss's voice again.
I will never attend another executive council meeting.
The silver handcuffers are very earth-conscious and good family members. They cherish family activities and work toward a balanced lifestyle. The handcuffs require that they work longer than they would like. They often talk to their spouses and children about the sacrifices the whole family may be making for these possible rewards.
Are the silver servants happy? Yes, the rainbow or the carrot seems tangible and possible. They have seen it happen to their neighbors. They don't have to work too much harder for it. Oh, they do have to work long hours and long weeks some of the time. They do have to stay in a company they don't always respect, but they do love the prospect of having the winning stock certificate!
Jean A. Hollands is CEO of the Growth & Leadership Center.Write to GLC, 1451 Grant Road, Mountain View, 94040.