And you are making the critical assumption that the employee or the employer in your hypothetical situation expected those four shares to remain four shares.
If I'm a small company just getting started, what do I have to attract top talent? Maybe I can't afford to pay as well as the established companies, or maybe my benefits are going to be worse (or nonexistent). But I do have stock options. If I'm a fledgling corporation, stock options can get me more talent than I could otherwise command, and if I'm a skilled engineer, I feel like I can directly affect the fortunes of this company and thus my own net worth if I am compensated heavily in stock options which, in the unlikely chance that all goes better than expected, could make me wildly rich.
Your hypothetical four-share employee certainly didn't sign on just on the strength of those four shares alone. And, quite possibly, the employer played up the possibility of those four shares becoming many more shares down the road if things go well.
If I'm a small company just getting started, what do I have to attract top talent? Maybe I can't afford to pay as well as the established companies, or maybe my benefits are going to be worse (or nonexistent). But I do have stock options. If I'm a fledgling corporation, stock options can get me more talent than I could otherwise command, and if I'm a skilled engineer, I feel like I can directly affect the fortunes of this company and thus my own net worth if I am compensated heavily in stock options which, in the unlikely chance that all goes better than expected, could make me wildly rich.
Your hypothetical four-share employee certainly didn't sign on just on the strength of those four shares alone. And, quite possibly, the employer played up the possibility of those four shares becoming many more shares down the road if things go well.