Long-term incentive (LTI) designs have become strongly aligned with institutional investor and proxy advisor preferences through increased performance stock and restricted stock units and reduced stock options. The increase in restricted stock is notable because it is the least intuitively linked to performance of the three vehicles.

We believe the current state reflects the evolution of equity compensation strategies towards a balance of active performance management and risk mitigation.

95% of S&P 500 companies currently use PSUs, up from 76% in 2012 (PSUs represent an average of 60% of CEO LTI mix). READ MORE