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I wonder if managers could discriminate against employees who sell a majority or all their shares. These managers might get this info from payroll who now no lo

I wonder if managers could discriminate against employees who sell a majority or all their shares. These managers might get this info from payroll who now no longer have to handle the sale of options or something to help offset the tax burden for the employee like they would for an employee with shares and this knowledge could then be used by a manager to suggest the employee doesn’t believe in the company or something.

dbmikus 6y ago
It's certainly possible. The same could happen during private share buybacks that companies sometimes run. I would hope that a company is set up so that managers don't have such lens into how many shares an employee still owns. I would take the risk of manager discrimination (which I consider very low) in order to get better liquidity and avoid being illiquid for 8+ years or however long it takes a company to go public.
kelnos 6y ago
I would hope that most reasonable managers would realize that people sell their company stock for all sorts of reasons, most of which having nothing to do with how much the employee believes in the company. And a manager that doesn't get that, and would retaliate/discriminate, is the kind of manager that probably has other, worse faults, and already engages in much worse anti-employee behavior.
rglullis 6y ago
Small-brain managers might use the information to retaliate against employees. Big-brain managers would use the information to ask the employee why they don't believe in the company anymore and use it as a feedback mechanism. Galaxy-brain managers would take the signal from many different employees to find out if their assessment is correct or not, and figure out if it is time to cash out or to go long, just like every C-level executive does.
- scsilver 6y ago
  Finance people know you sell stock for hundreds of reasons, you only buy stock for one, you think its gonna go up or pay a dividend.
np- 6y ago
Employees have lives right? Some of them might want a big wedding, new house, new car, nice vacation? These are all totally normal aspirations. If you’re working at a company where your boss doesn’t even acknowledge your humanity then your problems probably run deeper than this. Do these types of managers also want input on how employees spend their paycheck?
imtringued 6y ago
Investors want those shares because buying them early has a much bigger upside than buying them later. Employees just want a bigger paycheck. If employees sell most of their shares you gain zero insight from knowing their individual position vs looking at what the chart says about the entire stock unless, as rglullis said, you want feedback from those employees. A manager that retaliates against employees basically ruins all three value propositions. Investors don't get their shares. Employees don't get their paycheck. You also don't get feedback. It's negative sum thinking. A manager would only do it because they consider discrimination an end goal.

dbmikus 6y ago

It's certainly possible. The same could happen during private share buybacks that companies sometimes run. I would hope that a company is set up so that managers don't have such lens into how many shares an employee still owns. I would take the risk of manager discrimination (which I consider very low) in order to get better liquidity and avoid being illiquid for 8+ years or however long it takes a company to go public.

kelnos 6y ago

I would hope that most reasonable managers would realize that people sell their company stock for all sorts of reasons, most of which having nothing to do with how much the employee believes in the company. And a manager that doesn't get that, and would retaliate/discriminate, is the kind of manager that probably has other, worse faults, and already engages in much worse anti-employee behavior.

rglullis 6y ago

Small-brain managers might use the information to retaliate against employees. Big-brain managers would use the information to ask the employee why they don't believe in the company anymore and use it as a feedback mechanism. Galaxy-brain managers would take the signal from many different employees to find out if their assessment is correct or not, and figure out if it is time to cash out or to go long, just like every C-level executive does.

scsilver 6y ago
Finance people know you sell stock for hundreds of reasons, you only buy stock for one, you think its gonna go up or pay a dividend.

np- 6y ago

Employees have lives right? Some of them might want a big wedding, new house, new car, nice vacation? These are all totally normal aspirations. If you’re working at a company where your boss doesn’t even acknowledge your humanity then your problems probably run deeper than this. Do these types of managers also want input on how employees spend their paycheck?

imtringued 6y ago

Investors want those shares because buying them early has a much bigger upside than buying them later. Employees just want a bigger paycheck. If employees sell most of their shares you gain zero insight from knowing their individual position vs looking at what the chart says about the entire stock unless, as rglullis said, you want feedback from those employees. A manager that retaliates against employees basically ruins all three value propositions. Investors don't get their shares. Employees don't get their paycheck. You also don't get feedback. It's negative sum thinking. A manager would only do it because they consider discrimination an end goal.