Long-Term Incentive Awards: 9 Steps for Effective Participant Communications

It’s annual grant season again. To me, one thing this means is a lot of conversations with CHROs and compensation leaders about more effective ways to use their equity programs to drive retention and motivation. I’ve also had a few impromptu discussions with CFOs and controllers who wonder whether their equity program is even a good use of company resources.

Spoiler alert: It is—but only with a robust communications and messaging strategy.

It’s tempting to conclude that the only way to have high-impact equity programs is to have a meteoric stock price, such that equity alone is enough to attract and keep top talent. However, experience and research have led us to conclude it’s much more nuanced than that. The fact is, any company can unlock greater value from its equity programs. In this issue brief, we explain how to boost the effectiveness of your participant communications in order to improve the retention and motivational impact of equity.