The average employee contribution to sharesave (SAYE) schemes was £158.18 a month in 2016, according to research by employee share ownership membership organisation Proshare.
Its annual SAYE and Sip survey, which is based on analysis of share plan data from 426 organisations who run Sip schemes and 423 organisations who run SAYE schemes, also found that employees invested an average of £89 a month into share incentive plans (Sips) in 2016.
The research also found:
- There are a total of 1.4 million employee sharesave accounts.
- More than a third (35%) of employees take up partnership and matching shares through a Sip.
- The average Sip holding value per employee was £12,925.82 at the end of 2016.
- The weighted average participation rate for sharesave schemes is 35%.
Gabbi Stopp (pictured), head of Proshare, said: “[Sharesave] and Sip make a positive difference to all employees’ sense of financial wellbeing, and can generate significant profits for their participants. [Sharesave] has been around now for 37 years, and Sip, for 17 years. It is clear that neither of these plans would have lasted as long as they have if millions of employees, and their employers, didn’t find them to be effective vehicles for saving and investing, and for improving the distribution of financial gains across the workforce.”