Staff Motivation By Providing Shares To Employees

• Published date: 13 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Corporate/Commercial Law, Employment and HR, Tax, Employee Benefits & Compensation, Income Tax, Securities, Shareholders
• Law Firm: Eurofast
• Author: Ivayla Evtimova

Shares represent securities that are part of the capital of a trading company. In this article, we will look at the possibility of providing shares to employees and what the benefits are.

Granting employees shares is a strategy to inspire and assure them that their work and dedication are acknowledged and rewarded.

What options are there for providing shares?

• As a free acquisition.
• As an option to purchase shares - in this case, employees are given the right to purchase shares in the company at a price lower than the market price. With the employee's consent, the employer directly purchases the shares on his behalf, withholding their value from the employee's remuneration. In this way, the acquired shares are stored with an investment intermediary in the name of the employee.

In both cases, the provision is treated as additional remuneration. This means it is subject to tax if the employee's remuneration is below the maximum social security income and contributions.

For which employees is this incentive suitable?

This incentive...