Agreed, this seems deeply negative for the employee. It's not semantically different than just being paid a cash bonus, except you are forced to buy company sto

Agreed, this seems deeply negative for the employee. It's not semantically different than just being paid a cash bonus, except you are forced to buy company stock with said cash bonus. Which I suppose you can just immediately sell and get back the cash - which begs the question of why not just model this as cash bonus compensation entirely? The entire attraction of equity is that it can appreciate as it vests - that your (presumed) contribution to the company's market cap during your tenure is rewarded.