Attractive solutions that fit.
Incentive plans are as individual as your needs and preferences.
Incentive plans are as individual as your needs and preferences.
They come in various different varieties and forms, depending on a company’s strategy and structure. The categories below are those used most often, based on our experience:
Employee/management participation plans as part of the annual remuneration package, either in the form of genuine equity/option instruments or based on cash (e.g. so-called ‘phantom plans’, which reflect the economic effects of a genuine equity/option model, but only entitle people to a cash payment). These forms are also known as classic long-term incentive (LTI) plans.
Deferred cash remuneration arrangements (e.g. bonus banks), where part of someone’s salary or annual bonus is not paid out immediately but held back for an additional period and made conditional on how long they remain with the company and the achievement of predefined corporate objectives.
Management investment plans relating to corporate transactions (M&As, MBOs, public-to-private, etc.), where the management is generally expected to make an investment of their own (co-investment plans), alongside the main investor, in order to share the opportunities and risks and focus more closely on any future exit (including from a remuneration perspective, as the case may be).
Buy-out-awards (BOAs), where an employee loses participation benefits due to a change of job and the new employer wants to buy these out in order to secure the employee’s services. The preferred approach here takes the form of deferred payments or instruments from the new company based on similar time frames, mechanisms, and potential values.
Retention plans, which are aimed – particularly after a restructuring, the sale of a company, or a de-listing – at identifying key employees critical to the success of an organisation and binding these closer to the company in the immediate future.
Broad-based plans for all employees to ensure they too share in the fortunes of the company and help promote a shareholder culture among employees as well.
Incentive plans are an important component of well-designed remuneration strategies. They are common both in Switzerland and internationally and can be found across all sectors and companies of all sizes. Classic reasons for setting up incentive plans are as follows:
SSIP would be happy to advise you and show you which solution would best satisfy your requirements and what you need to consider when implementing your plans.