Employers are granting stock options to fewer employees and the sizes of those grants are smaller, according to a new study by human capital consulting
firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
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typical company declined 64 percent from $103 million in 2001 per company to
$37 million in 2004. Last year alone, the value of stock options fell 17 percent.
The decline occurred in all major industry sectors, even though the stock market
increased steadily. Between 2001 and 2004, the stock price at the typical S&P
1500 company rose 34 percent--and 18 percent in 2004 alone.
This decline in stock options value reflects a drop in the number of employees
receiving stock options as well as shrinking grant sizes at all employee levels.
The study is based on public data from companies in the S&P 1500.
"The results show that the attractiveness of using stock options to reward
executives and broader employee groups is diminishing," says Ira Kay, global
director of executive compensation consulting at Watson Wyatt. "In fact,
companies are now replacing stock options with restricted stock and other long-term
incentive awards to create a better portfolio of incentives and to comply with
the new accounting rule requiring companies to expense options."