According to a Reuters report today, Electronic Arts plans to ask shareholders this month to approve a plan to let employees swap underwater options for restricted shares in an effort to boost morale at the company, whose stock has lost about a third of its value over the last 12 months. The company says that this plan is an effort to retain valuable employees. The term "underwater" means that a company's shares are trading at a level lower than the price at which an employee can exercise his or her option to buy shares. If the plan approved at EA's shareholder meeting on July 27, employees holding underwater stock options would be able to trade those in at an exchange rate of between 3-to-1 and 4-to-1, with some of the restricted shares becoming eligible for vesting in as little as 2 years.