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Cosmetics powerhouse e.l.f. Beauty Inc. offers an unusual compensation structure to employees.
Unlike other organizations, the company gives all of its roughly 600 workers equity at the time of hire, as well as new grants each year. This means regular employees outside of the C-suite, who may not have otherwise had the opportunity, are able to take advantage of the kind of equity most often reserved for upper management.
But Trump’s latest tariff announcements have turned that compensation strategy into an HR issue. About 80% of the company’s products, including lip oils and foundations, are manufactured by third party sellers in China, according to e.l.f. That became a major point of concern when Trump announced a 145% levy on goods coming from that country.
That means that while some U.S. employees might be worried about how these tariffs will affect the general economy and hiring environment, e.l.f. employees are seeing their equity weighed down by trade uncertainty. The stock price of e.l.f. was $133.91 in January, but has fallen to around $62.17.
“Most people have jitters at the moment, it’s hard not to,” says e.l.f.’s chief people officer Scott Milsten, who’s led the company’s HR practices for more than a decade.
But given that all staffers are part owners, he says that leadership doesn’t run from the problem. Instead, the executive team is leaning into communicating. That involves reminding employees of their stock options, encouraging folks to stick it out for the long-term, and noting that the company’s compensation structure also makes “refresh grants” available to all employees.
“We sort of overshare internally,” he says. “So while this is a time when I think you might find companies sort of retreating into silence, we absolutely go the other way.”
Milsten says the company’s strategy of communicating openly with employees allows workers to focus on their investments long term, rather than the short term losses.
“It’s been tough for people, personally, to navigate this,” he says. “But [the] number one priority for me is making sure people understand how we’re navigating uncertain times, because regardless of the economic environment, our ability to take market share should always be true and we’ve shown that.
Brit Morse
brit.morse@fortune.com
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