Brilliant! A great move to re-establish to covenant between employers and employees. A clear acknowledgement of how important the employees are to the company. I hope they do outrageously well with this.
I wonder if a model like this has a place in Silicon Valley. I can't decide if I would prefer to just have my no-strings-attached options, or purchase actual shares in my current company which would presumably come with voting rights.
Buying shares in the company you work for means you're less diversified than if you'd bought the shares in some other company. The biggest investment most people make is the investment of their time into their job+career. If you also invest your money there, you'll be in bigger trouble if your company/sector of the economy tanks than if you'd invested your money somewhere else.
Not really sure why someone would want options though... maybe if you feel like taking a little bit of risk on you can invest a smaller amount?