Opinion
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OpinionJames de le Vingne: Why should employers consider employee ownership?
When we talk about the why of becoming employee-owned, at the Employee Ownership Association (EOA) we often use the analogy ‘who washes a hire car’?There is a mental change that happens when you own something. It drives behaviours that relate to what needs to be done rather than what you ...
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OpinionElena Visser: The argument for giving employees growth shares
The benefits of giving employees a stake in the business by way of equity participation are well rehearsed.Often the decision comes down to a choice between allocating shares upfront, effectively making the employee a day-one shareholder, versus granting them a tax-efficient enterprise management incentive (or EMI) share option.Making employees a ...
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OpinionNigel Watson: Investing in share schemes
Financial resilience has been defined as the ability to cope financially when faced with a sudden fall in income or unavoidable rise in expenditure. Being financially resilient does not mean having lots of money, it means having a strategy or a plan for coping with whatever life throws at you.Interestingly, ...
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OpinionDeb Oxley: Employee ownership unlocks the potential of people and business
There are many compelling reasons why employee ownership is one of the fastest growing succession options for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and family businesses that have no natural successor.For employees it gives them a stake and a say that allows them to share in both the responsibility and reward ...
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OpinionThomas Clark: How share-based incentives can help retain and motivate key staff
As the economic fallout from Covid-19 (Coronavirus) becomes ever clearer, it is important businesses are aware of all the tools at their disposal that can help them survive these difficult times. One tool that has slipped under the radar and deserves greater recognition is share-based incentives. Share schemes help retain ...
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OpinionNicholas Stretch: How are all-employee share plans faring as a benefit in the current crisis?
The two widely used share plans in the UK are sharesave (SAYE) and the share incentive plan (Sip). They, like most employee benefits at the moment, are under real pressure from companies and their participants to show value for money, appeal and flexibility. After all, while employee share plans are ...
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OpinionMalcolm Hurlston: Share schemes must present attractive returns to engage younger employees
If early assessments of Generation Z are on the money, they will be like chalk to the Millennial cheese, leaving employers with the most interesting communications challenge they have ever faced with young people.Gen Z appear to be old before their time, the first generation ever to be thinking about ...
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OpinionZoe Denny-Thomas: Engaging younger staff with share plans should be a key goal
Engaging the different generations in the workplace is always a hot topic, and there is increasing evidence that take-up of share plans among younger employees is disproportionately lower than their older colleagues. However, this is not necessarily a sign of disengagement with their employer. In 2017, Proshare produced a report, ...
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OpinionBen Watson: The rise of the employee ownership model
Employee-owned businesses are relatively uncommon in the UK, but with several household names now embracing the concept, could there be reinforcements to the upward trend we have been seeing these last few years?There are many reasons why a business might consider employee ownership, such as creating too much competition for ...
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OpinionCaroline Sherrington: Share options are a flexible way for employers to share equity with staff
Share schemes can be an attractive workplace savings option, helping employees to save while encouraging engagement with an organisation's business performance.Caroline Sherrington: Share options are a flexible way for employers to share equity with staffEquity can be a great way to attract and incentivise employees while preserving precious cash reserves, ...
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OpinionMalcolm Hurlston: Employee endorsement of share plans is invaluable
Life is a busy place and our attention is at a premium as we are assailed by nudges prompts and messages, virtual and real. It is the same for employees only more so: share plans account for a fraction of what interests them.Yet from an organisation's point of view, other ...
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OpinionDavid Baxter: Executive remuneration and the future of the long-term incentive plan
Many listed organisations will be putting their directors’ remuneration policy back to shareholders at the 2017 annual general meeting (AGM) for the first time since 2014. Renewal of the policy comes against a background of increasing calls for executive pay restraint and the risk of another ‘shareholder spring’ if investors ...
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OpinionDan Sharman: Taking employee share plans to a global workforce needs careful consideration
As part of a global benefits strategy, international organisations often want to expand their share plans to cover employees who are based overseas. Often, this is crucial to attract and retain key talent internationally and to achieve parity in remuneration packages across the global workforce.However, granting employees equity is a ...
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OpinionRaoul Parekh and Anne Croft: What could Brexit mean for share schemes?
Much of the Brexit debate has centred on whether leaving the EU will allow the UK to reduce the burden of business regulation. But what does this mean for employee share schemes?The mainstream press has been full of arguments about what Brexit might mean for employment law, with a contrast ...
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OpinionStephen Chater: Share schemes offer significant tax incentives
Typically, an organisation’s choice of employee share scheme will depend on the degree of employee share ownership that it wishes to introduce. One employer might want only key people to own shares, whereas another might prefer all employees to become part-owners of the business by introducing an all-employee share scheme.Various ...
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OpinionLynette Jacobs: Employers need to determine their objectives in extending a share plan internationally
Extending a share plan internationally is no longer an exception and the considerations for a small organisation extending participation into three jurisdictions and a multinational group operating a plan in 80 countries will be the same.The employer should first determine its objectives in extending the plan overseas, typically to strengthen ...
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Opinion
58 - YBS industry insight: What impact have recent changes had on the share plan market?
Over the last two years we have seen some interesting changes in the share plan market.We are now starting to see the impact of these changes, from trend analysis of 2015 share plan data and discussions with market advocates.For example, the increase in the sharesave maximum savings limits introduced by ...
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Opinion
Paula Hargaden: How to select a share scheme
Of the four approved schemes, two, the share incentive plan (Sip) and save-as-you-earn (SAYE) or sharesave, require awards to be made available to all eligible employees, while the company share option plan (Csop) and enterprise management incentive (EMI) permit awards only to selected employees.Sip and sharesave engage, and so are ...
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Opinion
Amanda Solomon: Share schemes can motivate staff
In such a tough environment, it is more important than ever for employers to be able to retain and incentivise staff. There are a number of share schemes that can help achieve this, including HM Revenue and Customs-approved plans.Incentives such as the share incentive plan (Sip) and the enterprise management ...
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Opinion
Paul Waters: Rolling over share proceeds will pay off
Taking a more integrated approach to employee share plans, corporate-sponsored pensions and individual savings accounts can result in much better savings outcomes.Sharesave plans typically have a high degree of trust with staff. Encouraging employees to use these plans is likely to be more successful than encouraging additional pension saving.If employees ...