Overview

• Tesla has reportedly decided not to give stock-based compensation to employees as part of their annual performance review this year.
• Employees usually get salary adjustments as well as merit-based stock grants on top of their existing equity, but this year, even high performers didn’t get the merit-based grants.
• Some Tesla employees who reached the end of their four-year vesting cycle were still given stock “refreshers,” in order to keep their total compensation competitive.
• It’s unclear if this is a one-time move amid a tough year where Tesla had to cut prices and saw its gross margins crash or if it’s a new policy going forward.
• Tesla has regularly changed its employee compensations over the years and not always in a straight forward way.