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In this case, most of the competitors have lost stock value too, so it's a "fair" pay cut when things are going poorly for the economy as a whole. There's usua

by muzani 4y ago

In this case, most of the competitors have lost stock value too, so it's a "fair" pay cut when things are going poorly for the economy as a whole. There's usually the offer of cash vs stock, and the employee gambles accordingly. If they're going to get compensated for the drop in stock too, why even ask for more cash?

eru 4y ago
At eg Google (at least when I was there for a few years from 2014 onwards), basically everyone on the same level and in the same location got the same amount of cash. The amount of stock was variable, based on how badly they wanted you to join (or keep you) and how well you negotiated. There was never any option to ask for proportionally more cash or more stock. The stock vested over time and the grant was typically renewed every year. So that you basically could plan to receive a relatively fixed proportion of your total comp in newly vested stock every year. From a financial point of view the newly vested stock was basically as good as cash: you could sell it straight away. > In this case, most of the competitors have lost stock value too, so it's a "fair" pay cut when things are going poorly for the economy as a whole. Look at the qualifiers in my previous comment. It doesn't matter what's 'fair', what matters is what the competition is up. If Facebook is still sitting on piles of cash and eager to spend it on employees, Google can't let their total comp drop too much, even if both companies have lost total market value. If Facebook (and other competitors) spend less, Google will also have to spend less. That's not the same as the state of the economy as a whole, but it's related to it. > If they're going to get compensated for the drop in stock too, why even ask for more cash? As said earlier, at Google (at least back then) asking for more cash wasn't an option.
- mrep 4y ago
  When I got an offer in 2018, they asked about cash vs equity and I said I didn't care so they seemed to go more heavy on the equity for my total comp. I then got an L+1 offer from dropbox that had a higher total comp and they matched it by increasing the salary and left the equity grant the same.
  - eru 4y ago
    Btw, I was at Google in Australia, for what it's worth. So not sure how that compares to other places.

by muzani 4y ago

eru 4y ago

At eg Google (at least when I was there for a few years from 2014 onwards), basically everyone on the same level and in the same location got the same amount of cash. The amount of stock was variable, based on how badly they wanted you to join (or keep you) and how well you negotiated. There was never any option to ask for proportionally more cash or more stock. The stock vested over time and the grant was typically renewed every year. So that you basically could plan to receive a relatively fixed proportion of your total comp in newly vested stock every year. From a financial point of view the newly vested stock was basically as good as cash: you could sell it straight away. > In this case, most of the competitors have lost stock value too, so it's a "fair" pay cut when things are going poorly for the economy as a whole. Look at the qualifiers in my previous comment. It doesn't matter what's 'fair', what matters is what the competition is up. If Facebook is still sitting on piles of cash and eager to spend it on employees, Google can't let their total comp drop too much, even if both companies have lost total market value. If Facebook (and other competitors) spend less, Google will also have to spend less. That's not the same as the state of the economy as a whole, but it's related to it. > If they're going to get compensated for the drop in stock too, why even ask for more cash? As said earlier, at Google (at least back then) asking for more cash wasn't an option.

mrep 4y ago
When I got an offer in 2018, they asked about cash vs equity and I said I didn't care so they seemed to go more heavy on the equity for my total comp. I then got an L+1 offer from dropbox that had a higher total comp and they matched it by increasing the salary and left the equity grant the same.
- eru 4y ago
  Btw, I was at Google in Australia, for what it's worth. So not sure how that compares to other places.