In four years, since Russia’s attack on Ukraine and as all countries began to review their defense measures, Saab has become the company on everyone’s lips. The share price has increased tenfold in four years.
Saab has been running a share savings program for many years that is aimed at all employees. Anyone who puts aside part of their salary and buys Saab shares will receive the same number of free shares from their employer after three years.
And whoever did this was richly rewarded.
According to Saab statistics Around 8,000-11,000 employees take part in the bonus program every year.
Lars Svensson, chairman of the academic association at Saab in Gothenburg, does not know exactly how many people have registered or how much money is involved.
“But I know that there was a very high level of connection,” says Lars Svensson, who took part in the program himself.
A calculation example: An engineer who earns SEK 75,000 a month or SEK 900,000 a year, put aside part of his salary and bought Saab shares for SEK 45,000 in 2022, can say today that this investment, including the bonus shares, has grown to around SEK 900,000. And that’s only with a one-year bonus program that you can join every year, even if the price development has been lower in recent years.
From the company’s perspective Of course, the program has a loyalty purpose. To receive the free shares, you must stay with the company for at least three years.
– So it’s about recruiting loyal employees who stay and do good work. Most people think that’s a pretty good deal.
Is this something people talk about in the coffee shops?
– Yes, but just as you don’t talk about salary, you don’t sit there and discuss exactly how much you have invested in stocks, says Lars Svensson.
Now the course development has begun for Saab was extraordinary. And there is a general debate in trade union circles that variable wages tend to increase and that they should be kept an eye on. Not everyone took part in the austerity program either.
But as far as Lars Svensson knows, this discussion did not take place at Saab.
– I can’t say that I took part in it.
Otherwise, share-related bonus programs for all employees are somewhat limited in scope. In the early 2000s, six out of ten (62 percent) programs were aimed at all employees of listed companies. Last year it was 16 percent, according to the auditing firm PWC.
