[PaulDavisThe1st]

Stock based compensation means that the value of the compensation is based on the stock market's assessment of the company's value, which may change over time.

However, the notion that any increase (or decrease) in that assessed value is the result of the work of the executive in question is almost always false. So, if the stock gains 10%, the stock-compensation gains 10% ... but non-stock compensated employees, who may have been just as responsible for the 10% gain, if not more so, likely see either no gain or a smaller one.

Stock-based compensation for any employee that is not available to all employees is just allowing the ones who receive it to free-ride on the back of the accomplishments (or failures) of the entire enterprise.