Justin B

Yeah smart move, if you have the cash then pay with cash. The other point I'd add here is that Tesla is such a coverted place to work, they don't need to give equity to encourage the best minds to work there. You can see most folks wear it as a badge of honor, although I'd say SpaceX is probably leading in that race. 
Either way great move for Tesla shareholders.

Luke Adams

Internal documents circulated at Tesla show's that its implementing cash based compensation vs the standard equity based compensation. There's probably 2 trains of thought here as to why this would make sense;
<ul>
<li>Tesla has an increasingly large cash balance at $19billion, and in today's economy with a recession, volatile markets and global unrest, cash is king.</li>
<li>Issuing stock to employees when some might view it as receiving stock on an inflated valuation could impact the very nature of using it as an incentive.</li>
</ul>
I think most would argue that equity outweighs cash when it comes to aligned incentives but if you can achieve the same results with no dilution then that wold be the best outcome.
As reported by <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/tesla-makes-cash-not-stock-the-default-for-many-employees-compensation-awards">The Information</a>, Tesla's stock has appreciated from a low of $30 at the start of 2020, to $268.21 on a split-adjusted basis on Thursday.&nbsp;
<img src="https://stcred.com/public/uploads/2022/10/1664951719283814672142.jpeg" alt="Tesla Employee Compensation" />

Tesla employee compensation now focused on cash vs equity