Stereotaxis, a medical equipment company based in St. Louis, wants to reprice employees’ stock options because its stock price has fallen so far.

In a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Stereotaxis is asking shareholders to approve a swap of new, lower-priced stock options for old ones that are currently underwater. The chief executive, chief financial officer and directors wouldn’t be eligible for the exchange.

Employees currently hold options to purchase 4.5 million shares at an average exercise price of $7.37. Even if the stock price doubled from its current level of $3.31, more than half of the options would still be underwater. That’s bad for morale, Stereotaxis argues:

The current stock options which are significantly underwater do not provide meaningful retention or incentive value to the option holders. We believe the exchange program will enable us to enhance long-term stockholder value by providing greater assurance that the Company will be able to retain experienced and productive staff, improve their morale and align their interests more fully with the interests of our stockholders.

Another St. Louis company, telecommunications provider Savvis, also is asking shareholders to reprice executives’ stock options. Starbucks, Google and Intel also have repriced options or are seeking to do so. But these companies really created their own morale problem, and now they’re trying to solve it at shareholders’ expense. As I said in a recent column,

Options were overused during good times. Employees were happy to have them, and companies were eager to hand them out. Nobody, however, considered the demoralizing effect they would have in a downturn.

Stereotaxis also disclosed that Bevil Hogg, who retired Dec. 31 as chief executive, made $2.4 million in total compensation last year. That included a salary of $400,000, retirement benefits of $880,113 and stock options valued at $1.4 million. The vesting of some of his options was accelerated under his employment agreement.

Michael Kaminski, who replaced Hogg as CEO, will also earn a salary of $400,000. His total compensation last year was $702,198.