In public schools, they generally have remained employees of the school district, while in charter arrangements, they are employees of the charter board. Still, Edison officials say the stock-options program will give school staff members a direct interest in the success of the company. Their enterprise is schools and doing great things for kids. Options Growing Stock options give an employee the right to purchase a certain number of shares of a company's stock at a fixed price. The price is usually the market value on the day the options officially become available.
Employees then hope for a company's stock price to increase.
They can purchase their options at the lower fixed price and, typically, turn right around and sell their shares at the higher market price for a profit. There is no risk to an employee for accepting stock options. If the company's stock never rises above the option value, the employee does not have to exercise the option to buy shares. Stock options were once largely reserved for a company's top executives. But more companies now offer broad-based options programs for a majority of their employees.