Stock compensation gives Big Tech workers a powerful reason to stay. Layoffs and the AI boom are changing the equation.
Big Tech employees are increasingly reconsidering their career paths as layoffs and the rise of AI startups offer new opportunities for equity. While stock compensation has traditionally kept workers at major firms, recent instability has led some to prioritize startup ventures over traditional corporate vesting.
Why it matters
This reflects a shift in the labor market for high-skilled tech workers, moving away from long-term corporate loyalty toward entrepreneurial risk-taking.
Rob Waters (left), Julie Zhu (center), and Yousuf Imran (right) weighed Big Tech stock compensation as they considered their next career moves. Rob Waters (left), Julie Zhu (center), and Yousuf Imran (right) Big Tech stock can be worth a fortune — if workers remain employed long enough to get it. Layoffs can suddenly wipe out stock workers were waiting to collect. The AI boom is creating another potential path to equity riches: joining a startup or building one. The day after Rob Waters learned of his layoff from Google last year, he was encouraged to apply for a new role there as an AI sales specialist. Google soon offered him the position, with a six-figure salary. Waters wasn't sure he wanted to return. He'd grown frustrated with the bureaucracy at Google and how the reorganization that eliminated his team had been handled.
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