Companies will occasionally provide their employees with bonuses in the form of stock options. The definitions of these benefits can get confusing, and it's HR administration's job to help explain exactly what they are, TLNT reports.
The news source discusses multiple stock ownership programs. These include a restricted stock award, which provides the employee with a specified amount of company stock, or a restricted stock matching reward, which is similar to the previous option, only the worker must place an equivalent number of personally owned company shares in a brokerage account.
HR may want to consider bringing in a qualified financial professional to help workers sift through the variations and answer specific questions. Mashable explains these may include inquiries about when to hold or sell, what the tax implications are and how a worker should think about stock compensation relative to total compensation.
TLNT notes that other options include a stock option grant, which gives employees the right to purchase company stock for a pre-determined price, and stock appreciation rights, which offer monetary equivalents to the increase in stock value of a certain number of shares.
