The ESOP is a great advantage in the corporate world, but it is also costs money to set one up. The startup costs are negligible to a large corporation, but a small business with few employees would not be able to afford it. Many times companies will use an ESOP to compensate your employees. Most employees will only tolerate this for so long. Stock options are not equal to actual wages.
Stock only pays off in the long term, although it is a nice addition to traditional wages.
Unfortunately employees need money to live on in the short term. Employees can t even touch the stock until their employment ceases. It is also catastrophic to create an ESOP without getting employee participation. The ESOP should be for the employees. They should line up behind it and support it.