SkyWest Employee Stock Purchase Program and 401K

[Skywest Pylot]

I have been hearing rumors that the ESPP and 401K at SkyWest changed today. Anyone have details? Are they good changes? What kind of approval did the company seek from the pilots/employees?

 

[WalterSobchak]

I have been hearing rumors that the ESPP and 401K at SkyWest changed today. Anyone have details? Are they good changes? What kind of approval did the company seek from the pilots/employees?

ESPP is essentially a load of useless crap now.

Roth 401(k) will be offered.

 

[vtech]

Money saved by changing the ESSP will be redirected into a reintroduced Profit Sharing program. The Performance Rewards program will remain unchanged. The ROTH 401(k) option sounds nice. The changes may be of benefit to the HCE under the existing 401(k) plan. All things considered, these may be good changes.

 

[Roger Dat]

ESPP is essentially a load of useless crap now.

Roth 401(k) will be offered.

"Useless Crap"

How so????? I have to disagree with you.

 

[McNugent]

Where's the details on this? I didn't see anything on OurASA today.

 

[SSDD]

"Useless Crap"

How so????? I have to disagree with you.

They just changed the program. Only a 5% discount, and can only use the price on the last day. Not the lower of the two.

 

[SSDD]

Where's the details on this? I didn't see anything on OurASA today.

After a bunch of negative posts on i-share. The just posted the official bulletin.

 

[IHateDaley]

They just changed the program. Only a 5% discount, and can only use the price on the last day. Not the lower of the two.

Oh wow, that blows huge as s chunks.

 

[McNugent]

So will that apply to this 6 month period or does it start the next?

I can't find it anywhere so if one of you could post a link I'd appreciate it.

 

[Roger Dat]

If thats true, the program is useless. Only guaranteed 5% and with the way the stock moves it can move 5% lower in a day. Especially since it takes a few days for us to get our hands on it to sell it.​

Might as well put that money in a savings account.

Oh well

 

[WalterSobchak]

So will that apply to this 6 month period or does it start the next?

The next...it will not affect this coming purchase.

SWOL>Documents>Company>HeadsUp Bulletins>2008>

If thats true, the program is useless. Only guaranteed 5% and with the way the stock moves it can move 5% lower in a day. Especially since it takes a few days for us to get our hands on it to sell it.​

Might as well put that money in a savings account.

Oh well

That's what I meant by "useless crap". Until the changes officially take place, it is/was a great program.

I'm hoping vtech is right and this turns into something good..but, right now, losing the solid ESPP we have/had sucks.

 

[CFIT]

From what I have been told it will a no loss switch in the programs.

Also for those of us that fall into the HCE category the company has now provided a new Defered Compensation Program. I have been getting creamed in taxes and this will definately help.

 

[CFI2766]

WHOA!!! AAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!

D@MN IT!!!

@#$%!!!!

The ESPP is now worth much, much less than before!!

I know that this isn't part of my contractually obliged compensation, but this stinks! Parallel: What if I arbitrarily decided to put 10% less effort into my job tomorrow?

FRUSTRATION.

I'm almost touching 4% in a money market account, and I can have the money whenever I need it, without having to wait 6 months. There is no point to the ESPP anymore!

Also, frankly, the additional layer of the sliding scale percentage match on contributions in the ASA version of the traditional 401k, presumably the Roth version as well, takes the value to the employee significantly below what most other employers are offering in the market place.

Whiskey...Tango...FOXTROT?!?!

 

[CFI2766]

From what I have been told it will a no loss switch in the programs.

Also for those of us that fall into the HCE category the company has now provided a new Defered Compensation Program. I have been getting creamed in taxes and this will definately help.

Maybe I'm not getting that option as an ASA guy, but where do you see a 'new' program to defer compensation?

You are familiar with how a Roth 401k works, right?

 

[BigLebowski]

Go to SWOL...or even on our SAPA forum

usually a good source of information.

 

[WAZUP]

I like how they waited till after open enrollment to tell us. Had I known I would be keeping that money in my check.

 

[sweptback]

Maybe I'm not getting that option as an ASA guy, but where do you see a 'new' program to defer compensation?

You are familiar with how a Roth 401k works, right?

It's another perk, like higher profit sharing, new growth, and now deferred compensation that SkyWest employees enjoy while ASA doesn't.

 

[asayankee]

And this folks is why you should always lock in your compensation in contractual pay rates. Bonuses and other programs are good, but if they can cancelled by the boad of directors any time they decide their profits aren't high enough they mean nothing.

 

[SkyNation]

I like how they waited till after open enrollment to tell us. Had I known I would be keeping that money in my check.

it doesn't affect this period. it will work the same for this purchase period, ending 12/31. you can go to the site and cancel anytime. open enrollment has nothing to do with it.

 

[IHateDaley]

I like how they waited till after open enrollment to tell us. Had I known I would be keeping that money in my check.

It's not too late to change your ESPP contribution. And you can cancel your contributions outright at any time.

 

[at7driver]

check your box on ourasa, it was posted either yesterday or today... same deal as SKW

 

[JustaNumber]

This is a loss of potentially several thousand dollars a year. This sucks!

 

[COOPERVANE]

I like how they frame news like this.

"In our continuing effort to offer the most advantageous employee benefits blah, blah, blah"

"ASA will now be an all jet fleet for the first time in 30 years!!" YEA!

They love to speak to us like children.
And will you please STOP with the FAQ format? The program has JUST been announced, there can't be any FAQ!!

 

[CFI2766]

it doesn't affect this period. it will work the same for this purchase period, ending 12/31. you can go to the site and cancel anytime. open enrollment has nothing to do with it.

Wellllll...NO.

It might work differently on the SKYW side of the house. Although the ASA version does allow you to 'change' the % (and therefore, cancel contributions) at any time, the changes will only take affect at the purchase time, either 1 Jan or 1 July. So even though you can request the change through 'Computershare' (something tells me this was the lowest cost provider of this service...) at any time, the change will not be made until the end of the 6 month period.

The changes will not touch any amount purchased during the 1 July 08/1 Jan 09 time frame. However, the 1 Jan 09/1 July 09 time frame will now be limited to only a 5% discount from the closing share price at the end of the period.

The value to the ASA/SKYW employee has been dramatically reduced.

 

[CFI2766]

One more thing, I saw nothing that stated definitively that we would be getting the option to invest in a Roth 401k. For the majority of the junior folks at ASA, the ability to participate in the Roth version of the 401k would be a very good thing.

I saw terms like '...we continue to explore in detail the OPTION to...' and 'we HOPE to be able to...', but nothing concrete.

For recap, in case anyone is wondering, its been a long, long time since we've heard any good news at ASA.

This was clearly the least painful, at least to SKYW, method to cut payroll costs. No doubt, it stinks. That being said, I strongly prefer this to any of the more painful means, to both the managerial types and to the work force, to reduce payroll costs.

 

[aerobat21]

I like how they waited till after open enrollment to tell us. Had I known I would be keeping that money in my check.

you can still bail

 

[Andy Neill]

I have been hearing rumors that the ESPP and 401K at SkyWest changed today. Anyone have details? Are they good changes? What kind of approval did the company seek from the pilots/employees?

That's a shame on the ESPP. That was one of my favorite perks. I was in it to the max. Still, even with only a 5% kicker, that amounts to a 21.1% rate of annualized return on your deposits - not bad.

I suppose some of this is offset by the increrase in Performance Rewards so it may be a wash for many.

 

[SpyFlysDOTs]

That's a shame on the ESPP. That was one of my favorite perks. I was in it to the max. Still, even with only a 5% kicker, that amounts to a 21.1% rate of annualized return on your deposits - not bad.

I suppose some of this is offset by the increrase in Performance Rewards so it may be a wash for many.

Fuzzy math...

 

[Andy Neill]

Fuzzy math...

Hardly. You get 100/95 benefit for 5.26% right off the bat. But that's in a six month period so it's 10.5% annuallized. But the average money involved was only half of the final amount so you are getting an annualized 21.1% return on your monthly investments.

In other words, if you were given the choice to put your money in a savings account with an APY of 20% or do the ESPP, you should choose the ESPP.

Did that shave some of the fuzz?

 

[SpyFlysDOTs]

Andy, do you realize this is on Selling price ONLY not the better of the two prices?