Credit: Shutterstock photo"At Apple, our most important resource - our soul - is our people," CEO Tim Cook said in a letter to its employees. Apple Inc.AAPL set yet another example by bringing all employees under the fold of its performance-based restricted stock grant program.
This is a significant move by the company as it reflects its efforts to retain employees across all levels while also sharing a part of its profits with them.
Restricted Stock Units (RSU) grants have been a part of Apple's C-level executive reward programs for quite a while now, especially for its product team. However, this is the first time, when this incentive will be made available to all employees, even in the retail and AppleCare divisions.
While such initiatives are generally given by tech startups to attract and retain skilled resources, Apple's move has raised quite a buzz given the company's size, growth prospects and the sheer number of employees it has under its payroll (over 0.1 million).
Employees who are awarded RSU grants get the shares (at pre-set fair market price) over a time period as per the vesting program, which takes into account performance and time related benchmarks. Typically, the incentive-based structure is so designed that it boosts both retention levels as well as productivity.
Previously only people in Apple's top leadership were eligible for such grants, which had the vesting period of about five years. However, for the above mentioned vesting program, the exact details have not been disclosed yet.
As per a 9to5mac report, under the new program, Apple employees have already been awarded RSU grants with amounts starting from $1000 - $2000 and higher depending on their performance, years spent with Apple and some other factors.
Apple also has a separate Employee Stock Purchase Plan, which allows employees to purchase company shares at discounted prices.
Apple currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some other stocks in the broader tech space that can be considered include Pandora Media, Inc. P , MeetMe, Inc. MEET and IZEA, Inc. IZEA . All three stocks sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
