There are umpteen examples of companies offering stocks to employees when they are not financially strong and cannot offer salaries to match industry standards. This is a strategy that has helped many start ups to retain talented workforce that feels satisfied being owners in the companies they work. The same policy was adopted by social gaming giant Zynga when it fist arrived on the scene. However, the amazing success of social games like Farmville and Cityville on FaceBook and other social networking sites has made Zynga think differently.
According to reposts coming in, social gaming giant Zynga now feels otherwise and is asking employees to return the stocks held by them or else to remain prepared to be fired or sacked from the company. Last year, when Zynga was approaching stock market, it felt that it had given out too much in the name of stocks to its employees and that it is better for the company to demand all that stock back from the employees.
Zynga had a tough time deciding which employees to ask for the stock that had been given to them. It was decided that the employees whose performance did not justify them receiving the possible cash windfall when the company finally goes public to be asked to return the stock. Social gaming giant Zynga feels it should not create a scenario that was witnessed in 2004 when some employees became millionaires overnight with Google’s IPO. The scheme has not gone down well with the employees, though.