QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE PROCEEDING Even if you’ve been convinced as to the merits of employee share ownership schemes in principle, you still need to proceed carefully. Jumping straight in and grabbing onto the first scheme you find would be an ill-advised strategy. That’s not to say that you might not get lucky and find yourself going with a scheme that perfectly meets your needs, but that’s exactly what it would be – luck. Instead, you should look to give yourself the best chance of success, and that means not only consulting with specialists in the field, but also, even before that, taking the time to ask key questions of yourself and your team, to establish the needs of your business, and letting that inform the process of identifying the share scheme that will tick the key boxes for you and your employees.
Here are some of the issues you need to consider before committing to a specific share scheme:
WHAT TYPE OF BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE? This might seem obvious, but it is no less important for that. Are you a public or a private company? Are you an SME or a larger company? Are you part of a group? Are you a startup or are you firmly established? Whatever the answer, the type of business you have is going to be a key consideration in deciding what share scheme is right for you, as some schemes will, for example, be a better fit for a startup than the Irish branch of a large multinational. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE? Another obvious question, perhaps, but also one for which you need to have a clear and well-thought out answer. What is your overall objective? Are you first and foremost concerned with attracting new talent? Is your overarching concern about retaining key personnel? Are you looking to incentivise greater productivity? Do you want your employees to identify more closely with the business and its goals? Again, you need to be consciously aware of what your top priorities are and let that inform your share scheme selection process.
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