February 21, 2020

Broad-Based Stock Plans Remain Prevalent in Fortune Best 100 Companies to Work For

NCEO founder and senior staff member

Forty of the 78 employers among the 2020 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For that can offer stock plans have some kind of broad-based plan. Twenty-two of the organizations cannot have stock plans because they are nonprofits (mostly in health care), law or accounting firms, or a consumer cooperative (REI). The percentage of eligible companies offering these plans on the list has been around 50% since its inception.

The list is not representative of U.S. employers in many ways. Employers have to apply for the award, and applicants have been heavily weighted toward health care providers, law and accounting firms, and technology companies.  Technology companies are also disproportionately likely to offer broad-based equity grant plans and or employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs).

Of the 78 companies, five have ESOPs (David Weekly Homes, #23, Publix, #39; West Monroe Partners, #46, Burns & McDonnell, #65; and Sheetz, #80). Publix, Burns & McDonnell, and West Monroe Partners are majority employee-owned. The brokerage firm Baird (#13) is majority employee-owned through a direct stock purchase plan.  Eighteen of the companies offer only an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), two have non-ESPP stock purchase plans (other than Baird), and 14 provide broad-based equity plans and a stock purchase plan.

Fortune Best 100 Companies to Work For with Broad-Based Equity Plans

  Company
  
  Ranking
  
  Stock plan(s)
  
  Ultimate Software
  
  2
  
  ESPP, equity awards
  
  Cisco
  
  4
  
  ESPP, equity awards
  
  Workday
  
  5
  
  ESPP, equity awards
  
  Salesforce
  
  6
  
  ESPP, equity awards
  
  Edward Jones
  
  7
  
  ESPP
  
  Stryker
  
  8
  
  ESPP
  
  Intuit
  
  11
  
  ESPP, equity awards
  
  Cheescake Factory
  
  12
  
  Equity awards
  
  R.W. Baird
  
  12
  
  stock purchase
  
  Pinnacle Financial
  
  14
  
  Equity awards
  
  Camden Property Trust
  
  18
  
  ESPP
  
  CarMax
  
  20
  
  ESPP
  
  David Weekly Homes
  
  23
  
  ESOP
  
  Capital One
  
  24
  
  ESPP
  
  NVIDIA
  
  27
  
  ESPP
  
  HubSpot
  
  30
  
  ESPP
  
  Slalom LLC
  
  31
  
  Non-ESPP stock purchase
  
  Adobe Systems
  
  35
  
  ESPP/equity awards
  
  Publix*
  
  39
  
  ESOP, stock purchase
  
  Accenture
  
  41
  
  ESPP, equity awards
  
  T-Mobile
  
  42
  
  ESPP
  
  Synchrony Financial
  
  44
  
  ESPP, equity awards
  
  West Monroe Partners*
  
  46
  
  ESOP
  
  Red Hat
  
  48
  
  ESPP
  
  Pluralsight
  
  51
  
  ESPP
  
  Workiva
  
  58
  
  ESPP
  
  SAP America
  
  59
  
  Non-ESPP stock purchase
  
  DropBox
  
  63
  
  Restricted stock
  
  Burns & McDonnell*
  
  65
  
  ESOP
  
  Regeneron
  
  67
  
  Equity awards
  
  Box
  
  71
  
  ESPP
  
  FirstAmerican Financial
  
  76
  
  ESPP, equity awards
  
  Sheetz
  
  80
  
  ESOP
  
  Cadence
  
  82
  
  ESPP
  
  Nutanix
  
  84
  
  ESPP
  
  AbbVie
  
  87
  
  ESPP
  
  Encompass Home Health
  
  88
  
  ESPP
  
  Experian
  
  90
  
  ESPP
  
  Goldman Sachs
  
  94
  
  ESPP, equity awards
  
  Delta Airlines
  
  99
  
  ESPP