Staff can take part in two unapproved share plans. The first offers a 20% discount on shares, while the second offers a multiplying factor of 15 allocated to any growth in shares over the next five years.
The firm has 10,000 staff in the UK, including 6,000 at recycling and resource subsidiary Sita UK. Natasha Wilson, head of pensions and reward at Sita UK, who manages the scheme for all UK-based staff, said: "Staff are guaranteed a return on their investment. Even if the share price falls between now and 2015, they will still get their money back."
Staff are offered a £25 cash incentive - the approximate value of one share - to take part. "These are not approved by HM Revenue and Customs, so every employee will have to pay tax and national insurance," said Wilson.
In addition, Sita UK has introduced new salary bands and revamped its pay structures, resulting in pay increases for 20-25% of staff. "We have massively changed the grading structure," said Wilson. "We spent a number of years evaluating all [job] roles and placed them into rating bands. We then established a salary scale based on evaluations and market research."
As a result of the change, salary bands are more transparent. "Previously, we had less control over what salaries were offered to staff," said Wilson. "This allows the business to focus on what salaries should be offered."
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