A survey of stock based compensation schemes for employees of public companies in Kenya

Abstract

This is a survey seeking to establish the extent to which stock based employee compensation schemes are used in public companies in Kenya. The study covered a sample of thirty-nine companies listed in the Nairobi Stock Exchange under the main investment market segment (MIMS). A questionnaire was administered to all the companies in the sample. However only twenty-six companies responded giving a response rate of sixty seven percent which was considered adequate for the study. From the survey it is evident that only thirty one percent of the firms that responded have stock based compensation. These firms are both local and foreign owned and have their compensation schemes operating from their parent countries and covering only the toplevel executives and to a small extent the middle level management. Therefore we can deduce that stock based compensation is a recent development in Kenya with most schemes being less than five years old. The schemes in use include incentive stock options, discount stock options, premium stock options and employee - stock purchase plans.