EXCLUSIVE: Just under a third (29%) of employer respondents offer share schemes or share options to their employees, according to research by Employee Benefits and Staffcare.

The Employee Benefits/Staffcare Benefits research 2017, which surveyed 271 employer respondents in February-March 2017, also found that a further 17% offer shares or share options to staff at senior or executive level only.

This leaves more than half (54%) of respondents’ organisations that do not offer shares or share options to employees.

These figures have changed little year on year, when 29% offered share schemes to staff, 16% to senior employees, and 55% did not offer shares or share options at all.

The types of share schemes that respondents provide to staff also remain in line with 2016; long-term incentive plans (48%), all-employee sharesave schemes (29%), and company share option plans (25%) continue to be the three most common scheme types.

Not being listed as a public company (cited by 63%) is the main reason why respondents’ organisations do not offer shares to employees, as in 2016 (63%). However, the proportion of respondents that do not offer share or share options to staff because it is considered inappropriate has increased. More than a fifth (21%) of respondents cite this as their reason for not doing so in 2017, up from 13% in 2016.