Staff in Revolut frustrated about the share option scheme

The challenger bank Revolut has once got into a dispute with its employees.

Some of them voiced their frustration over the company’s handling of its share option scheme – which allows employees to buy discounted shares in the future without paying tax, sifted.eu reported

Read also: Revolut is moving Irish accounts to Lithuania due to Brexit

The company’s employees have been facing delays getting the share options due to them, and have had little visibility of the options they’ve earned since late 2019. Some have even taken to internal Slack channels to complain.

Revolut’s employees were offered shares in exchange for lower take-home pay. This came as the company sought to tighten its belt in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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This June Revolut’s staff in Krakow and Porto have claimed that they felt pressured into the “Salary share swap scheme”, which saw Revolut ask employees to “volunteer” their wages for twice the value in shares, which were priced at $121.4015 each.

“For Revolut, having our employees share in the success of our business is really important,” said a company spokesman.

“We want all our people to be rewarded for the hard work that makes our success possible. That’s why we place a high value on all our people having the opportunity to become shareholders.”

Revolut has used a Company Share Option Plan to grant share options to staff. Under such arrangements, employees must be able to acquire shares at a price no lower than the market value of the shares on the date the option was granted. Options can be exercised without incurring income tax, subject to certain conditions.

“At Friday afternoon’s meeting, staff were told they have a 10-year window in which to exercise their options, even if they leave the company, according to the person close to the situation. But some staff remain confused over the value of their share options and the impact of the changes, according to one person familiar with the matter,” sifted.eu reported.