EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP
New share plan gaining acceptance
Despite misgivings about its administrative complexity and worries about the risks for staff, half of respondents to a 109-company survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers are making plans to introduce an all-employee share ownership scheme.
The PwC survey shows that among those companies with plans to introduce an all-employee share ownership plan (AESOP), as many as half expect to implement a scheme within the next two years.
Graham Ward-Thompson, head of AESOP services at PwC said: These companies are not displaying a ‘ wait and see’ approach but are confident that the benefits offered by AESOP will outweigh any disadvantages of choosing them, rather than more risk free or tried and tested schemes.
The case for AESOPs . . .
Most companies cite the key drivers for AESOP as the desire to improve existing reward strategy to improve retention and motivation of their staff, and also as a means to give employees a better understanding of the business through making them become and think like shareholders. — PricewaterhouseCoopers.
. . . the case against
Companies participating in our survey have identified the worst features of AESOPs as their complicated administration and also the perceived risk for employees of being shareholders, compared with risk-free alternatives including the savings-related (SAYE) share option scheme. — PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Want to know more?
Survey sample: information was provided by 109 of the FTSE 350 companies.
Availability: contact Graham Ward-Thompson, partner, tel: 0113 289 4919 or Sam Gegg, PricewaterhouseCoopers, tel: 020 7804 2279.
Take a look at PwC’ s press release . . .
www.pwcglobal.com/extweb/ncpressrelease.nsf/DocID/CD2D0D0119C1C6988525696700577E83