back to article Vanishing EMC golden handcuffs could cause brain drain

Stock option-incentivised EMC staff could brain drain out of the company as the Dell acquisition will cash-out their stock options, de-incentivising them. We're told by an EMC insider that: "All EMC golden handcuffs disappear at the Dell acquisition. That is, immediately prior to the acquisition, all EMC restricted stock units …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All that glitters is not gold

    I had about 75,000 options when I decided to leave Dell (a few years ago now) and a smaller number of EMC ones when I left there last year. The Dell ones would not have made me a dime. I probably would have made some money on the EMC ones, but life is to short to hang on in a company whose main plan it to be it's own main competitor. Life is better away from that particular style of self-deluded 'management'.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: All that glitters is not gold

      Yes I am leaving EMC very soon and found the internal competition was brutal and savage. I have never worked in such a demotivating and depressing environment.

  2. That Old Guy

    I was there

    As someone who worked for Dell at the time it went private I can say that what happened with the stock any employee held was that it was immediately converted to cash and paid out. No vesting schedule.

  3. Tom 35

    de-incentivising them

    Go wash your mouth out with soap!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    VMware?

    I wonder if the same applies to VMware employees now that the stock price has been run into the ground? Good move for Dell in terms of the total they will need to pay out but I wouldn't imagine the employees would be too happy about the deal. I'd imagine that being forced to sell at a bargain basement price would have to leave a particularly bitter taste in ones mouth.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: VMware?

      VMW RSUs do not vest on this event, although the closer we get to the deal closing all the weird short and arbitrages and option games end that investors have been playing with EMC and VMware shares. As a result (and the quarterly numbers) VMW shares have been slowly climbing back up.

      As far as EMC2, Good employees will be re-handcuffed, and dead weight will be left to drift off. I would expect stuff they have called out as hyper growth groups like extremeIO and VxRail to stay compensated enough to stick around.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Vmw

    VMW RSUs do not vest on this event, although the closer we get to the deal closing all the weird short and arbitrages and option games end that investors have been playing with EMC and VMware shares. As a result (and the quarterly numbers) VMW shares have been slowly climbing back up.

    As far as EMC2, Good employees will be re-handcuffed, and dead weight will be left to drift off. I would expect stuff they have called out as hyper growth groups like extremeIO and VxRail to stay compensated enough to stick around.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Vmw

      The brain drain has been underway for some time. People good enough to have their unvested shares covered by a new employer have already jumped ship. The "vain drain" will be next as the handcuffed get paid out and get the news that maybe Dell doesn't need EMC level talent to man the going out of business sale tables. Some will hang around banking on 12 months of chaos making for essentially a year off with pay, hoping for a severance package. It will take 18 months for the dust to settle. Then the exodus of 40-somethings will be in full swing. Many will never make as much money ever again. Cloud hurts.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Vmw

      "As far as EMC2, Good employees will be re-handcuffed, and dead weight will be left to drift off. I would expect stuff they have called out as hyper growth groups like extremeIO and VxRail to stay compensated enough to stick around."

      This ignores the point of the acquisition. Slash costs. Fatten margins. Ride declining revenue streams into the ground. Slashing costs = a realization that strategic initiatives and the people need to drive them don't make sense when you are selling hardware in a declining market for that hardware. A Taco Bell franchise doesn't need a $300,000 a year manager. That doesn't mean that $300k workers are "dead weight", it just means that the business model doesn't support that level of value. The real question is, "Who *is* worth decent high-tech wages in a company focused on commoditizing hardware?' Certainly a small group of elites. The rest of the folks working to do things beyond commoditization will need to find new homes.

      The XtremIO organization was dismantled, by the way. Rockstars are out kicking butt at other companies. So much for that part of your theory.

  6. Updraft102

    Can't you at least find a stock photo that shows real handcuffs?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    VCE Too...

    Since VCE didn't have stock, and couldn't compensate people with RSUs from any of the parent companies, the employees were given something called a "Long Term Incentive Plan". It was essentially a cash award that paid out over three years, and could stack so that over time a significant amount of compensation was tied up in it. For many, it became the single biggest reason to stay. My understanding is that all unvested VCE LTIP will be paid at the same time the EMC RSUs vest, and I know many, many employees who are holding off on taking other job offers until that happens.

  8. cortland

    AFAIK...

    AFAIK, EMC (ElectroMagnetic Compatibility) tests have NEVER required handcuffs, and "kinky" appears in NONE of its standards.

    Just so you know...

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