The Swedish government should use smarter employee stock option legislation to create a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining Europe’s most promising startups and technology companies to establish tens of thousands of qualified, high-paying jobs in Sweden.
The rules for qualified employee stock options (QESO) were a clear improvement, but it is time for tweaks to improve the legislation. Because we should be ranking higher than place 13 among European countries when it comes to treatment of stock options and employee ownership in startups.
Adjustments to the legislation should include eligibility for larger startups (that employ hundreds of people or more) to use QESO (qualified employee stock options) and making sure fintech companies (including banks), that is a Swedish ecosystem strength, can use them.
But it should also include shortening the vesting cliff from 3 years to the market standard of 1 year cliff and 4 year vesting. That would be fair to employees and not excessively have the state lock them into one employer for three years if they want to keep their well-earned equity
