Equity Compensation Plans
Equity compensation is employer-provided stock or stock equivalents, used across several distinct structures (stock options, employee stock purchase plans, restricted stock, phantom stock, stock appreciation rights) each with its own tax treatment. It's a US-specific category.
Worth distinguishing from Employee Stock Ownership Plans and Employee Ownership Trusts: those transfer real, often majority, ownership and governance rights to employees collectively. Equity compensation plans are typically individual incentive-pay instruments layered on top of ordinary corporate governance — a narrower, less democratic mechanism, even where broadly distributed.