Engine applauds the reintroduction of the Empowering Employees through Stock Ownership (EESO) Act, bipartisan legislation that will make it easier for startup employees to exercise their stock options.
Engine Welcomes House Passage of Stock Options Legislation
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Empowering Employees through Stock Ownership Act (H.R.5719), which will encourage startup growth by making it easier for employees at private companies to exercise their stock options. The following statement can be attributed to Engine Executive Director Evan Engstrom:
Let’s Make It Easier for Startup Employees to Exercise Their Options
Equity compensation, often in the form of stock options, is a critical tool used by startups to attract, retain, and incentivize quality employees. But stock options have a downside: current tax law requires that employees pay an immediate tax when they exercise their options, usually long before they can sell those stocks to realize their full economic value. Fortunately, a bill being considered today by the House Ways and Means Committee could remedy this problem.
One Way Stock Options Are Hurting Businesses – And How to Fix It
Among the many challenges entrepreneurs face in launching and scaling a startup, recruiting talented employees is one of the most difficult. There’s already a shortage of tech workers in this country (there are currently more than 600,000 open computing jobs nationwide, and last year, only 43,000 students graduated with computer science degrees), and it’s even more dire for startups that must compete with some of the most successful companies in the world to recruit these employees.
