Broad-based Employee Stock Options in the U.S.Company Performance and Characteristics

This paper analyses data on 490 companies with broad-based stock option plans, matched to data from CompuStat in order to compare their characteristics and performance to that of other public companies. Major findings are that 1) companies with broad-based plans have higher levels of labor productivity, employment growth, and sales growth than otherwise-similar firms; 2) productivity and profitability levels rise as broad-based plans are adopted, and 3) average compensation levels are higher among such companies both before and after the introduction of broad-based plans, indicating that stock options appear to come on top of other compensation.