Employee Share Schemes
& Incentive Plans
Attracting high performing employees when in the early stages of a business’ life can be key to the success of a Startup. Employee share schemes (ESS) and incentive plans are a valuable resource that can assist Startups in attracting talented individuals.
ESS and equity incentive plans provide key employees with the ability to acquire equity in your company through the acquisition of shares now or the option to acquire them in the future.
For Startups, ESS and incentive plans benefit the business by attracting talented employees away from well-established businesses to new ventures as they are eager for an opportunity to have some “skin in the game”. The employee further benefits as the schemes and plans are a tax effective means of gaining financial rewards from the current and future success of the business.
The Business Law team at Sladen Legal are dedicated to working with clients to help develop employee share schemes or incentive plans that enable our clients’ businesses to grow and thrive from the early stages and throughout. We will work closely with you to develop tailored schemes or plans that suit your needs, attract, maintain and motivate talented staff to stay with the company and ultimately inspire the evolution and development of your new business.
We can assist with:
- Providing advice on the most ideal structure for your business, whether that be as ESS or an incentive plan.
- Advising on the compliance requirements of ESS and incentive plans.
- Preparation of ESS documentation including letters of offer, information documents for employees, application forms, salary sacrifice agreement (if applicable) and notice of entitlements.
- Preparation of relevant incentive plan documentation including shareholder agreements and Corporations Law compliance documents.
For more information on Employee Share Schemes and Incentive Plans please contact Laura Spencer.
