The vast majority of Apple’s employees — even its retail workers — are about to get something most hourly paid workers don’t: restricted stock awards in the company.
In a memo e-mailed to employees, CEO Tim Cook said the company was creating a new program that would award restricted stock, or shares that typically vest over a certain period of time, not just to executives or the managers and engineers who build its products but to hourly paid workers.
The new program, Cook wrote in the e-mail, is “designed to reach employees who were not previously eligible, including many in our amazing retail and AppleCare teams,” referring to the company’s customer-service workers.
Before now, Apple employees could buy stock at a discount through a stock-purchase plan, and the company, of course, offered such awards to executives, as well as to employees in the company’s product groups who were selected by their managers.
But the new program, Cook wrote, “effectively (makes) everyone who works at Apple eligible,” noting that “this is an unusual step.” The e-mail, which was confirmed by an Apple spokeswoman, was reported Wednesday by the site .
It’s not uncommon for tech companies to make all employees eligible for such equity grants, but it is rare for companies with as large a contingent of retail workers as Apple’s, said Bruce Elliott, manager of compensation and benefits for the Society for Human Resource Management.
According to numbers from Apple’s 2014 annual report, roughly half of its employees work in its retail stores.
“It is unusual to see hourly paid employees play in these kind of programs,” Elliott said. “I think they’re taking a long view as it relates to talent and differentiating themselves.”
A 2013 project by the National Center for Employee Ownership found that only about 20 of the largest 900 S&P companies say on their websites that they provide restricted stock to most or all employees. Of those 20, the majority are technology firms without a significant retail workforce.
Though rare, the concept is not unheard of. Starbucks issues “Bean Stock” (or restricted stock grants) to all of its employees — including part-time baristas and other store workers — after they have worked a certain number of hours.
Because restricted stock vests over time, Apple’s program is a way to help retain workers. It could also help Apple attract the type of knowledgeable, tech-savvy, service-oriented workers it needs to continue growing its store base.
