Employers showing more interest in offering a slice of company to workers - survey

Kiwi businesses are showing an increased interest in employee share schemes, according to new research from Sharesies.

The online investment platform Sharesies has commissioned research on firms' use of employee share schemes, with nearly a third in the survey saying they offer workers a slice of the company as part of an overall remuneration package.

A further 58 percent of those surveyed said they were looking at or considering introducing an employee share scheme within three years.

General manager of Sharesies Business Susannah Batley said that suggested attitudes around employee share schemes were changing in New Zealand, which hadn't embraced the concept in the same way as countries like the US.

"Traditionally in New Zealand, remuneration has been predominantly about salary, but increasingly employers are recognising the chance to give their people a stake in the businesses that frankly they're helping to build."

Batley believed a big factor in the increasing interest in employee share schemes was the growth of KiwiSaver and what it had done to help lift financial literacy.

"I think KiwiSaver and that link between ownership and employment has really helped increase awareness and education around how important that is to build long-term wealth. And when you think about, say, in Australia, where employee share schemes are more prevalent, superannuation has been around for longer."

Batley said what was also encouraging was that of the firms that had been offering employee share schemes, 98 percent were considering participation and eligibility.

"We really are seeing a shift towards making it more available to more people rather than concentrating it among senior executives. And that's a really positive development for New Zealand as a whole because while salary is absolutely really important in terms of people meeting their needs today, it's really ownership that gives them an opportunity to participate in long-term wealth creation."

Forty-three percent of those firms surveyed said they saw financial wellbeing as the joint biggest benefit of offering employee share schemes, alongside attracting new staff.

"We think it's a great win-win when employee schemes are done well. They are such a win for employers, they're a win for employees. So we're really excited to see this trend continue," Batley said.

Sharesies said it commissioned research company YouGov to do the research.

It said the quantitative research was based on surveys of employees and business decisionmakers.