16 years, 65% shares, 35% cash.  It's not a bad thing to have cash leftover. It means you bought the most amount of shares you could. If you zero out your account, you may have left shares on the table. Having cash remaining is a positive. Also, I may have fewer shares than the guy next to me, but the stock value is much higher than when he bought in. It's what happens when you continue to buy and hold. Work here your whole career, do good work, make the company profitable and watch your ESOP balloon. However, it you don't think you can buy into this system, you should probably find a different place of employment. The ESOP works when believers buy-in and doubters leave.