Employee Share Ownership in Australia: Theory, Evidence, Current Practice and Regulation

Abstract

Since at least the 1970s, employee share ownership has enjoyed bipartisan political support in Australia. Despite broad and sustained public policy interest in employee share ownership, however, Australian literature on the subject remains scarce. There has also been very little in the way of comprehensive analysis of the regulatory framework. This paper provides an overview of employee share ownership from an Australian perspective. It begins by reviewing the literature on broad-based employee share ownership before turning to examine available data on Australian practice. It then considers how employee share ownership plans are currently provided for in public policy and law. Companies in Australia proposing to offer shares to employees must comply with many regulatory requirements. The paper examines these requirements. The authors also examine features of the current regulatory framework which have been identified as problematic.