I'm not the person who wrote that but I think you're misinterpreting the statement.

I believe user addicted was trying to say is that companies are attempting to treat a large portion of compensation paid out to employees as somehow not material or meaningful, and that practice is toxic.

Yes that is exactly what I was trying to convey.

They are obviously not the same thing (as the comment about trying to pay rent, for example, tries to point out). But at the same time, a lot of companies try to pass them off as not meaningful which I don't think is helpful even if toxic may be too strong a term. (SNAP's figures do that literally, giving us NM for change % numbees affected by the stock compensation).