Employee-stock-ownership-plans (ESOPs) is commonly for higher-level managers. Could stock-based compensation to the entire workforce be beneficial for organizations?
Theoretically, stock-based compensation provides incentives for employees to stay hence reducing turnover and costs related employee turnover. Also, compensating employees with stock could help with the aligning of employees’ interests to those the employers.
Finance Act 2023 provides incentive for Start-Ups to compensate employees with shares instead of with cash benefits. For eligible Start-Ups, effective 1st January 2024, compensating their employees by awarding them with shares will allow the employees to enjoy tax benefits off of gains realized from the shares. Taxation of the gains will be deferred until in the circumstances that the employee cease to the an employee to that Start-up, or disposes the shares within the allowed time of five years, or the expiry of the 5 years whichever is earlier.
Firms could benefit immensely from this in that they do not have to struggle with financing salaries when they are starting and for the provided time.