Men more likely to take up share plans

Male employees are far more likely to participate in employee share plans than their female colleagues.

Just under three-quarters (73%) of share plan participants are male, while just 27% are female, according to HBOS Employee Equity Solutions' Employee share ownership plans, financial education, and savings behaviour research, which was carried out in conjunction with Andrew Pendleton, professor of human resource management at the University of York.

Take up also varied according to employees' age. Staff aged between 35 and 44 years were the most likely to join a plan (37%), while those aged 16-24 years were the least likely to do so (2%). Some 29% of respondents aged 45-54 years said that they participated in an employee share scheme, while 19% of those in the 25-34 years age bracket did so.

And 13% of those aged 55-64 years have joined a share scheme.

• For more information, contact Paul Stoddart, national new business manager at HBOS Employee Equity Solutions on 020 7905 9626

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By age group†

16-242%

25-3419%

35-4437%

45-5429%

55-6413%

†Source: HBOS Employee Equity Solutions

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