State of Share Plans 2026: Transaction processing is the biggest challenge for share plan managers

Transaction processing is the biggest administrative challenge for share plan managers: 42% of 250 listed-company respondents cite it as their primary challenge, compared with 22% who point to participant queries. As equity compensation becomes more important to attracting, retaining, and rewarding talent, the work involved in managing share plans is growing too.

Our State of Share Plans 2026 report brings together the views of 250 respondents from listed companies across the UK, US, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Spain, surveyed in September.

Our research explores how share plan management is changing, where companies are facing the most pressure, and how Finance and People teams experience and manage their plans differently.

Here are some of the key findings from this year's research.
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42% say transaction processing is their biggest share plan challenge

On a global level, 42% of respondents now identify transaction processing as their primary administrative hurdle, compared to 22% who point to participant queries.

This marks a notable multi-year shift in administrative priorities. Answering participant queries was the dominant challenge in our State of Share Plans 2024 report, cited by 51% of surveyed companies. Our 2025 report showed that gap had virtually disappeared, and today, transaction processing has pulled decisively ahead.

Transaction processing becomes a bigger challenge as companies grow

The shift becomes even more pronounced as companies scale. Among large-cap companies (over 500 million in revenue), 62% name transaction processing as their top administrative pressure point, compared to 29% of small-cap companies (between 1-50 million in revenue).

As companies grow, they typically manage more employees, higher transaction volumes, and increasingly complex multi-scheme structures. What remains manageable at a smaller company can quickly become a much larger administrative task as transaction volumes increase.

The gap highlights the growing complexity of share plan administration

The gap between company sizes highlights how scale changes the demands of share plan administration. While just under a third of small-cap companies identify transaction processing as their biggest challenge, nearly two-thirds of large-cap companies do.

This suggests that share plan teams need systems and processes that can handle increasing transaction volumes as their programmes grow, rather than simply supporting the needs of their current employee population.

63% of US respondents rate their share plan processes as very efficient

The US stands out from the global picture, with respondents reporting stronger outcomes across nearly every operational metric. 63% rate their share plan processes as very efficient, compared to 46% globally.

51% of US respondents rate their share plan software as modern and easy to use

Technology adoption is also more advanced in the US. More than half of US respondents, 51%, describe their share plan software as modern and easy to use, compared with 40% globally.

This more positive view of technology is also reflected in employee understanding – 53% of US respondents say employees understand their equity plans very well, compared with 42% globally.

Better technology doesn’t remove transaction workloads

Despite reporting more modern platforms and more efficient processes, 44% of US respondents say transaction processing still takes too much time. That is broadly in line with the global figure of 42%.

The findings suggest that technology can improve how plans are managed, but it doesn't remove the work created by higher transaction volumes and complex plan structures. The right share plan provider can give teams better tools to manage that complexity, but the underlying workload still grows as programmes become more complex.

Growing share plans are changing what companies need from their systems

The findings show that the requirements for share plan management are changing as programmes grow. Companies need more than systems that simply keep plans running in the background.

Higher transaction volumes require stronger operational processes

Companies need systems that can handle high-volume transactions, provide clear visibility across multi-scheme structures, and give Finance and People teams the information they need to understand plan performance.

The challenge is not limited to transaction processing. As plans become more important to overall remuneration, companies also need to maintain a clear and transparent participant experience.

Employees need to understand the equity they hold

As equity becomes a larger part of overall remuneration, employees need clear information about what they have been granted and how their equity works. A strong participant experience therefore remains an important part of effective share plan management.

Ultimately, the challenge for listed companies is making sure the systems and processes supporting share plans can keep pace with their growing role in attracting, retaining, and rewarding talent.

How do you design a share plan management platform workflow that works for HR, Legal, and Finance?

A share plan management workflow needs to give HR, Legal, and Finance the information and controls they need without creating separate processes for each team. HR needs clear visibility of participants and plan activity, Legal needs confidence that grants and transactions follow the right rules, and Finance needs accurate data for reporting, accounting, and forecasting.

A well-designed platform brings these workflows together, with clear ownership, approval steps, and a shared source of data so each team can complete its part of the process without duplicating work or relying on disconnected spreadsheets and systems.
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Explore the full State of Share Plans 2026 report

How does your share plan management compare with companies in the UK, US and across Europe? The full report goes beyond the headline findings, showing how share plan challenges vary by company size, seniority and market.

You'll also see how Finance and People teams differ in their priorities, where transaction processing is taking up the most time, and how companies are managing increasingly complex share plan programmes.

Download the full State of Share Plans 2026 report to benchmark your approach against 250 listed companies and see where your share plan management could improve.