Your Complete Guide To Irish Employee Share Plans

DO YOU WANT ALL OR SELECTED EMPLOYEES TO BE INCLUDED? This is another important question, as the answer will most likely strongly influence your final decision. If you specifically want all employees to potentially be eligible (barring, for example, limitations on minimum time served with the company), then you will be drawn to one of the Revenue-approved schemes, as the rules of these plans specifically dictate that they must be applied evenly across the company, that is, that all employees – whether a senior executive or someone at entry level – be treated the same. Companies that want to target specific employees – usually senior and key people – will make a point of avoiding approved schemes, as they cannot meet their needs. It is important to note that an unapproved scheme can be applied on an all-employee basis, but in practice will tend to be used when a company has decided that it wants to go with a more targeted plan. DO YOU WANT TO ISSUE ACTUAL SHARES OR NOT? This might seem like an odd question, given that we are talking about share schemes, but while most schemes do involve ‘real’ options and share awards, it is also possible to go with a phantom scheme, which mirrors the form and structure of a shares scheme, but ultimately leads to a cash bonus payment rather than the allocation or sale of company shares. So, if you want to experience the benefits of an employee share scheme, but do not want to issue shares (for whatever reason), then clearly that prerequisite will steer you away from actual share-based schemes and towards the phantom-style plans that meet that key criterion.

Powered by