Yesterday my company announced a change to the Employee Stock Purchase Plan. In summary, it now sucks. It used to be that over a six month period we paid 85% of the value of the stock at the start of the period, or the end of the period, whichever was lower. Great deal! If the stock has gone down, you are getting 15% off the purchase price. If the stock has gone up… you get a great deal more off. Assuming you sell the stock as soon as you come into possession of it.
Now it is 5% off the price at the end of the period. Since it takes a few days for the stocks to come into our possession, and with the fluctuating exchange rate, we could actually lose money.
I could get more money by putting the money into bonds for the six months. It would be better if they just said we could buy the stock for 5% off at any time during the period. But because the period ends two weeks after the quarterly report, it is probably the worst time to buy.
My benefits have slowly been eroded since we were bought out. Especially compared to the American employees. I’m really thinking of looking for another job. I like my coworkers so I’ve been avoiding such thoughts. But now…
Well, one thing I’ll do before trying to find a new job is to finish my current home programming project. I’ll look a whole lot better as a programmer if I can show any potential employer a working application that I made all on my own.
Bioware is still in town…