Yeah, we do yearly comp reviews not with stock grant numbers, but with total comp targets.
So if you do mediocre one year and get a mediocre grant, then kick it into high gear next year, but the stock grew in the meantime, you're told "tough luck" and not rewarded for the extra effort. Or at least stock growth is deducted from your effort reward.
It's absolutely insane, but Amazon is the easiest faang to get into
The truly insane part was that if the stock went down, they just said "too bad that's the risk you took with stock comp". They didn't true up if the stock price went down unless you were lucky enough to get part of the small pool of stock your director got to spread around for top performers.
They basically set aside your stock when you start, and you the employee absorb all the risk of downside and get punished for upside.
So if you do mediocre one year and get a mediocre grant, then kick it into high gear next year, but the stock grew in the meantime, you're told "tough luck" and not rewarded for the extra effort. Or at least stock growth is deducted from your effort reward.
It's absolutely insane, but Amazon is the easiest faang to get into