What is an employee benefit trust and why do companies need an employee benefit trust? Employee benefit trust is a trust which usually holds property for the benefit of employees in connection with incentive, ownership, or reward programs. The acronym for employee benefit trust is EBT, if you were wondering. Such kinds of trusts may also be known as employee benefit trusts. And now, what is the role of an employee benefit trust? Employee benefit trusts can support different types of employee share schemes and other longer-term benefit programs as applicable.