What I meant by "work with" is that CEOs work in proximity to and interact with employees pretty much every work day. I didn't mean to imply that their interests were aligned.
I assume most CEOs don't talk to their board of directors every day. Most normal people will empathize with and want to please the people they work with to achieve some common goal (i.e. create a good product, grow the business, and beat their competitors). To the stockholders, that would be an undesirable trait, and so the board of directors gives the CEO stock options to encourage the CEO's self-interest to override his or her innate desire (if it exists) to treat employees well at the expense of profits and dividends.
I assume most CEOs don't talk to their board of directors every day. Most normal people will empathize with and want to please the people they work with to achieve some common goal (i.e. create a good product, grow the business, and beat their competitors). To the stockholders, that would be an undesirable trait, and so the board of directors gives the CEO stock options to encourage the CEO's self-interest to override his or her innate desire (if it exists) to treat employees well at the expense of profits and dividends.