Recent studies have added to the growing body of evidence supporting the increased use of such employee ownership plans as stock options and profit sharing at all levels of the corporate hierarchy. Despite "line-of-sight" and "free-rider" arguments to the contrary, stock options and profit sharing have been shown to have positive effects on sales, employee recruitment and retention, shareholder returns, and productivity. These studies have also highlighted the importance of an overall firm culture supportive of employee involvement in decision making, to maximizing the benefits of employ ownership.
See "Firm benefits from share-owning workers; Employee ownership plans are on the rise.", MARTIN CONYON and RICHARD FREEMAN, Financial Times, November 4, 2001