• San Jose Mercury News, Thursday, April 12, 2007 10:45 AM

For those still holding Google stock from the days when the company went public (nearly three years ago now), they've nearly quadrupled their money by now, making millionaires out of many a Google employee. This year, hundreds will be coming up on their fourth-year anniversary, which means they'll soon be able to cash in all their pre-IPO options. When they do, and many will, they'll be faced an important question: to stay or not to stay?

An employee exodus is one of the more "confounding consequences" of success. And while Google is still an attractive company to work for, some may no longer feel the need to do any work. Others will start their own projects.

However, Google's chief culture officer Stacy Savides, herself a pre-IPO millionaire, said the exodus has thus far been limited to a "handful of people." In fact, the company had anticipated the departure of many more. Even so, "we worry every day about this, and hope we can stay ahead of it," she said. The greater question is: how do you keep employees that no longer need to be there? The answer: do your best to keep them happy. Google's new "underwater options" is a new form of stock compensation that could make its longstanding talent even richer.

Read the whole story at San Jose Mercury News »