5 Steps to Educate and Engage Employees About Your Equity Plan

December 1, 2020 Jenna Matthews

Illustration of employees discussing education for equity plans in a meeting room.

If you want to motivate your employees, few tactics are as effective as giving them an equity stake in your company. But for employees to fully benefit, they need to understand how the plan works, how much their equity could be worth and how equity grants can help them achieve their life goals – information that’s hard to share in a dense document or highly technical presentation.

That's why your company needs a strategy to communicate with employees across the lifetime of the plan.

Here is a five-step plan to help your company create regular conversations and high-impact learning around equity.

Illustration of a city skyline near a lake.

Step 1

DEFINE AND UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCES

By creating a unique equity strategy for different groups within your company, you can engage a larger swath of your workforce.

Know your Audience:

Everyone
C-Suite
Global Employees
Younger Employees
Employees nearing retirement

Illustration of a employee communicating his equity plan to his participants.

Step 2

GET EVERYONE INVOLVED

Sometimes you need a little help from some friends. Get the entire organization involved in communicating key plan information and benefits.

Key Stakeholders:

Human Resources
Internal communications
Compliance
Influential leaders
Key managers

Illustration of employees discussing their education equity action plan while sitting in a park.

Step 3

SEIZE EVERY OPPORTUNITY

It’s important to share plan milestones once in a while, but having more regular conversations about equity can help your employees understand the value of their stock plan and get more from it.

Illustration of a women hiking while looking at a distant mountain range.

Potential Equity Plan Milestones:

Plan launch
Enrollment dates
New grant issues
Vesting schedules
Proxy season

Different Ways to communicate:

Intranet postings
Company-wide emails
Town halls
Offsite training
Performance reviews
Internal quarterly updates

Step 4

MAKE IT EASY TO ACCESS EQUITY INFORMATION

Your workforce absorbs information differently. You should communicate across various internal channels so people can engage with plan materials in the way that works best for them.

Illustration of equity information being downloaded on a laptop.

Webinars

Illustration of a icon to demonstrate intranets.

Self-serve portals (Intranets)

Email Campaigns

Step 5

MEASURE YOUR RESULTS AND REFINE YOUR STRATEGY

Your communication goals will determine the message you'll emphasize. Here are some examples of how to tailor a message to your goals:

Illustration of employees discussing their equity plan access while looking at a computer screen.

GOAL

Illustration of an icon used to demonstrate plan enrollment.

Increase plan enrollment TACTIC

Clearly explain the benefits of enrolling and the potential cost of missing out.

GOAL

Illustration of an icon used to demonstrate participant engagement.

Increase participant engagement TACTIC

Use the Shareworks mobile app so your participants can engage with their equity shares on their time.

GOAL

Illustration of an icon used to demonstrate share plan understanding on a chart.

Improve plan understanding TACTIC

Clearly deliver key facts about your plan and the value it can provide. Make it relatable to your participants by thinking about what matters to them the most.

GOAL

Illustration of an icon used to demonstrate employee retention.

Employee retention TACTIC

Make the connection between the company’s equity plan, its culture and an employee’s total compensation.

You don’t need to build a communications plan from scratch. Shareworks Academy has a presentation starter kit to streamline the entire process.

Still need a Shareworks Academy account?
Reach out to your Relationship Manager.

About the Author

Jenna Matthews is a customer marketing manager at Shareworks by Morgan Stanley, with over five years of experience in the digital marketing space.
Follow on Linkedin More Content by Jenna Matthews

Previous Flipbook

Transparency 2021: Addressing Gaps in Private Equity Compensation Report

View our Transparency 2021: Addressing Gaps in Equity Compensation report to learn about gaps and inequitie...

Next Flipbook

Communicating Equity Like a Pro - White Paper

See best methods to communicate your company's equity compensation plan and equity program to employees.

CRC 3347451 (11/20)

5 Steps to Educate and Engage Employees About Your Equity Plan

Step 1

DEFINE AND UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCES

Know your Audience:

Step 2

GET EVERYONE INVOLVED

Key Stakeholders:

Step 3

SEIZE EVERY OPPORTUNITY

Potential Equity Plan Milestones:

Different Ways to communicate:

Step 4

MAKE IT EASY TO ACCESS EQUITY INFORMATION

Step 5

MEASURE YOUR RESULTS AND REFINE YOUR STRATEGY

About the Author

Previous Flipbook

Next Flipbook

Other content in this Stream

View our Transparency 2021: Addressing Gaps in Equity Compensation report to learn about gaps and inequities that might exist in equity compensation plans.

See best methods to communicate your company's equity compensation plan and equity program to employees.

How do businesses handle regulatory compliance when offering an equity plan in multiple jurisdictions? Every country has different requirements and structures.

Find out how you can use a virtual panel discussion to promote your equity plan enrollment.

Learn how to make your employee share plans more cost-effective by using a share plan administration software.

See why employee engagement can be low with share plans and how Shareworks can help you navigate through this.

Discover 7 ways to educate employees about equity compensation and understand equity ownership.

See communication tips to boost employee share plan engagement like using a share plan administration software.

Giving employees a voice. Fostering pride in ownership. Delivering insight at the touch of a button. Customizing reports in real-time. Discover how Rignet realized these benefits with Shareworks.

Just like the holidays, employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) enrollment is right around the corner for most companies. And, if you’re like most companies, you’re likely pondering how to make...

At this point, it has been incredibly well documented how private companies are taking longer to make the leap and launch into the public arena. Despite the recent run of IPOs that resulted in...

This topic was initially delivered as a session at Synergy 2019 in Scottsdale, AZ. Learn more about Synergy and what to expect for Synergy 2020 in Austin, TX. Deluxe Corporation,...

Looking for actionable employee communication tips? The communication workflow can be a big challenge for plan administrators, and it can often fall to the bottom of the to-do list. But, when...

You know that equity compensation is a great tool to reward, retain and recruit a talented workforce. But some companies invest in an equity plan without getting the employee participation and...

This topic was initially delivered as a session at Synergy 2019 in Scottsdale, AZ. Learn more about Synergy and what to expect for Synergy 2020 in Austin, TX. It’s an average workday and...

It started with a simple concept – to connect neighbors to neighbors online. The idea quickly caught on and propelled San Francisco-based startup Nextdoor into a billion-dollar company.

Cultivate performance and retention company-wide with an employee share purchase plan.

See how to increase participation with equity compensation plans at private companies by educating employees.

You need to file IRS Form 3921 if your employees exercised stock options last year. Get the rundown on how and when to do it, including deadlines and late filing fees.

We’re frequently asked about the differences between ISOs and NSOs. Let us try to clear up some confusion. Stock option grants are the lifeblood of Capshare – I estimate that about 3 out of every...