EXCLUSIVE: More than a quarter (29%) of employer respondents offer shares or share options for all employees, according to research by Employee Benefits and Xerox HR Services.
The Benefits research 2016, which surveyed 338 employer respondents, also found that 16% offer shares or share options for executive and senior-level staff.
Of those respondents that do offer a share scheme, almost half (47%) run a long-term incentive plan. Sharesave schemes (SAYE) and company share option plans (Csop) are also popular, with 27% and 22% of respondents offering these to staff, respectively.
A fifth (21%) of respondents have an all-employee share incentive plan (Sip) offering matching shares, followed by a Sip offering with partnership shares (16%), and free shares (8%).
Among those respondents that do not offer shares or share options to employees, not being a listed company is the top reason for not doing so (63%). Just 3% of respondents that do not have an employee share offering cite a preference for cash incentive schemes as the main reason for not doing so, and 13% do not offer shares because they do not consider it to be appropriate.
