Airline operator ANA Holdings plans to offer around $60 million worth of shares to thousands of employees, the latest Japanese company to use employee share incentives as a tool to retain talent and comply with a request by the regulator to pay more attention to share price performance.
ANA will offer 100 shares worth about $20 each to about 70% of nearly 45,000 employees in November, following in the footsteps of other major Japanese firms such as Omron and Sony Group.
The employee share incentive plans coincide with one of the most severe labor shortages Japan has seen in years, and as the Tokyo Stock Exchange urges listed firms to become "more conscious" of their share prices due to concerns that far too many companies are trading below their book value.