This memorandum summarizes and contrasts the characteristics of stock appreciation rights ("SARs") and phantom stock or similar rights ("Phantom Stock") as performance incentive techniques. By and large, the key elements of this discussion are equally relevant to non-employee recipients such as consultants and outside directors.

This research report was written by Hewitt Associates, who recently conducted a broad study of employee-owned firms to determine methods of achieving an optimal mix of participatory involvement, communication, and shared responsibility in achieving a maximum value from equity compensation programs.

Ownership has become a key objective in reward system design for many organizations. Despite extensive use of stock-based compensation programs, employee ownership is not growing as expected. Employees' ownership of employer stock is low and ownership behaviors are not occurring to the degree desired by managers and shareholders.

The National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP) released the results of a survey regarding stock plan design and administration, NASPP Stock Plan Design Survey Report. Some interesting highlights.

The global business community is recognizing the benefits of employee ownership, from tax savings to improved work performance, as more major firms worldwide offer stock as compensation.