{"id":6547,"date":"2020-05-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www-staging.carta.com\/sg\/carta\/contractors-deserve-equity-gig-workers\/"},"modified":"2021-03-05T06:55:31","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T06:55:31","slug":"contractors-deserve-equity-gig-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-staging.carta.com\/sg\/blog\/contractors-deserve-equity-gig-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why contractors deserve equity"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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In 1992, then-barista Kaycee Kiesz received the first of her Starbucks RSUs, granted as part of the company\u2019s \u201cBean Stock<\/a>\u201d program (a way for Starbucks retail employees to earn company-issued RSUs).\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

During her twenty three years at the company, Starbucks grew from about a hundred stores in the United States to tens of thousands around the world. Its share price went from under $1 to more than $50.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Kaycee\u2019s holdings, which she has periodically sold to do things like pay off student loans, put a down payment on a house, travel the world, and pay for her wedding, have increased in value<\/a> by a total of 22,500 percent.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Although this may be an acute example, it reflects the power of equity: to align incentives, retain talent, and give a company\u2019s workers access to unbounded value creation. For Kaycee, that meant instead of graduating from her job as a barista and going elsewhere, she stayed at Starbucks, leveraging her accounting degree and working her way up through the ranks to become a senior manager in the company\u2019s PR department.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Today, as gig workers take on more and more of our economy\u2019s essential services, from grocery and food delivery to transportation, it\u2019s vital that we make it possible to extend equity to contractors.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While much of our economy is paused<\/a>, many of the nearly 60 million gig workers in this country are out on the front lines. Despite that, they cannot access the one thing that has been the most effective driver of wealth over the last century: equity.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It\u2019s crucial that this change.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While the gig economy generates gross volume of $200B+ annually, more than half<\/a> of gig workers say they would not be able to absorb a $400 emergency expense. Giving this growing group of people greater spending power won\u2019t just change lives. It\u2019ll also be a powerful boost to the economy.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Why equity is important for gig workers<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The benefits of equity compensation\u2014in addition to a paycheck\u2014for both employee and employer are significant:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n