Taro Logo

Stock option grants are broken

Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Wise for less than 1 year
November 15, 2022
Singapore, Singapore
3.0
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo CEO Opinion
Pros
  • A mission that matters
  • Opportunity to make an impact
  • Flexible hours
  • Can work from home
  • Good work-life balance
  • Fun colleagues
  • 5 weeks of paid time off (including the "me" days)
  • 16 weeks of maternity and paternity leave
  • Annual company party in June in Estonia (Summer Days)
Cons

You might not get the stock options you've been promised. The stock option process is that your manager has 10 days at the beginning of the quarter to start the stock option grant process and get it approved by specific people. If anyone doesn't approve it for any reason (sick, off, forgot), you don't get your stock grant and need to wait for the next quarter.

The number of stock options in your grant depends on the stock price of the previous quarter. The stock price has doubled in the past 3 months, so employees who didn't get their stock options grant approved in time last month will get half the number of stock options they were promised, in addition to not receiving stock options this quarter. Because of this, a fair number of people lost tens of thousands of dollars.

When this happens, no one will let you know that you're not getting your stock options. If you ask, the company will let you know that this is the company policy and that they have planned to change the way stock option grants work. It's been one year that stock option grants are supposed to change in 2 quarters. It's still supposed to change in 2 quarters.

Each team gets the same budget for pay increases (percentage-wise), and team impact and performance don't matter.

A lot of smart people left. There are more and more employees who don't care about making an impact.

There are more and more dumb company policies, and it's getting harder to challenge them, but most people don't care. It's a bit like what you would see in a bank.

Advice to Management

Fix your stock option grant process and compensate people who got affected.

The current compensation, which is vesting over 3 years and 9 months instead of 4 years, doesn't satisfy anyone.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
5.0
Culture and Values
3.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
3.0
Career Opportunities
3.0
Compensation and Benefits
3.0
Senior Management
2.0

Was this helpful?

Wise Interview Experiences