Abstract:
Employee Share Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are an empowerment tool for workers and have been a common feature in South Africa’s mining industry policy since mining charter one of 2004. They serve the purpose of transformation by allowing employees to own shares in the mining companies which they work for. Despite notable efforts by mining companies in setting up ESOPs trusts for their employees, many ESOPs deals concluded in the mining industry have not yielded tangible dividends for employees. Many ESOPs that have been implemented have failed to meet stakeholders’ expectations in terms of dividend yields. ESOPS schemes have come across various criticisms, as they are considered “inconsistent, complicated and mostly opaque to employees whilst delivering modest returns to them,” (Diale 2016:7).
