My very very very very large company doesn’t have stock lockup like that. I can sell my granted and vested stock at any time, unlike previous employers. Weird.
It really depends a lot on your role. I would assume your CFO, that knows the figures he will share in the market and analysts expectations, is indeed vetoed.
Most Senior Execs and the whole Financial division typically fall under these umbrellas.
My last company which was smaller, I was locked out for a month around earnings reports. I probably have more privileged information now, but I know not to trade on it by waiting the appropriate time.
I think its usually a very pre-arranged time (like once a quarter shortly after the quarterly earnings since you cant know what's in the next quarterly earning if the previous one just happened).
Besides, are there really bad and good times for the company? Its not like the company itself is affected, just the stock holders. Management wants stock to go up because management usually owns stock. So screwing you would also screw themselves.
No, actually, it is the opposite. For legal compliance, the company tells you when it is safe for you to trade, assuming that you do not have any insider information that would affect the stock price during the allowed periods, without getting into legal trouble.
My company does this and it is a relief for legal compliance reasons.