Tesla Inc. executives told some salaried employees that the company won’t pay out merit-based stock awards this year.

The company didn’t give a reason for the change, but four employees from different departments told Bloomberg they believed the move was widespread. Employees still receive modest cost-of-living increases and base salary adjustments.

During annual performance reviews, employees typically receive a salary adjustment as well as merit-based stock grants on top of the stock they already have. But this year, employees said, even high-performing employees did not receive merit-based grants. Some Tesla employees who reached the end of the four-year vesting cycle were still granted “upgraded” shares to keep their total compensation competitive.

It’s unclear whether this is a one-time deviation or part of a larger change in Tesla’s compensation philosophy, which takes a more targeted approach to stock grants. Tesla, which has 140,000 employees worldwide, did not respond to a request for comment. The company has made changes to how it rewards employees in the past.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long emphasized the importance of employee stock ownership. The use of these grants has allowed the electric car maker to keep wages high while keeping cash on hand, and Musk believes this method of compensation has helped him fend off unionization attempts.

“The problem is this: How do you keep great people who will do the hard work of building cars when they have six other opportunities that they can do easier?” said Musk at the New York Times DealBook Summit last month. “We’re certainly trying to make sure everyone thrives. We give everyone stock options.”

Stock options, usually in the form of restricted stock, have historically incentivized employees to stay at Tesla rather than at rival companies. New hires are typically offered a base salary and stock grants that vest over four years, meaning they sacrifice potentially large payouts if they leave the electric car maker after a period of time.

Musk, who is the world’s richest man, has spent much of 2023 signaling that he is concerned about the state of the global economy. He blasted the U.S. Federal Reserve for high interest rates, and during Tesla’s third-quarter earnings report, he warned that commercial real estate is in “terrible shape” and credit card debt is rising.

Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja, during the same earnings call, said the company is focused on cutting costs as it struggles to overcome a “challenging economic environment.”